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THE 

ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES. 


BY 


CHARLES LAMB. 


EDITED, WITH NOTES, FOR SCHOOLS. 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY. 

1886 . 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by 
GINN & COMPANY, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



J. S. Cushing & Co., Printers, Boston. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

The Cicons. — The Fruit of the Lotos-tree. — Polyphemus and 
the Cyclops. — The Kingdom of the Winds, and God iEolus’s 
Fatal Present. — The Lajstrygonian Man-eaters 1 

CHAPTER II. 

The House of Circe. — Men changed into Beasts. — The Voyage 
to the Underworld. — The Banquet of the Dead 15 

CHAPTER III. 

The Songs of the Sirens. — Scylla and Charybdis. — The Oxen 
of the Sun. — The Judgment. — The Crew killed by Light- 
ning 31 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Island of Calypso. — Immortality Refused 42 

CHAPTER V. 

The Tempest. — The Sea-bird’s Gift. —The Escape by Swim- 
ming. — The Sleep in the Woods 47 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Princess Nausicaa. — The Washing. — The Game with the 
Ball. — The Court of Phaeacia and King Alcinous .... 54 


1Y 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER VII. 

The Songs of Demodocus. — The Convoy Home. — The Mariners 
Transformed to Stone. — The Young Shepherd 62 


CHAPTER VIII. 

The Change from a King to a Beggar. — Eumaeus and the 
Herdsmen. — Telemachus 73 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Queen’s Suitors. — The Battle of th*e Beggars. — The Armor 
taken down. — The Meeting with Penelope 89 

CHAPTER X. 

The Madness from Above. — The Bow of Ulysses. — The 
Slaughter. — The Conclusion 100 




HOMER AND THE ODYSSEY. 


A N antique bust represents Homer as a “blind, ven- 
erable man, his forehead radiant with high thoughts, 
his face worn with the fervor of their long strain and stress.” 

That likeness, and a few traditions, tell us all that we 
know of the great poet. 

When he was born, or where, or how he lived, are mys- 
teries which we cannot hope to solve. 

The utmost we can learn is that he was a native of 
some part of Greece, and that upwards of a thousand 
years before Christ he was known as the singer of the 
siege of Troy and of the adventures of Ulysses, in a 
country where books had not yet begun to be; nay, 
where there was yet no art of writing and no alphabet 
even, but where the poet wandered from place to place, 
reciting his moving verses, as the Egyptian Arabs still 
recite the stories of the Arabian Nights, to groups of 
wondering listeners sitting in a circle round their camp- 
fires on the sands. 

The legends which have come down to us describe the 
Poet as poor as well as blind, and as one whose greatness, 
like that of Shakespeare, was not fully recognized till after 
he was gone, so that the familiar lines may, perhaps, be 
true, which say: — 

“ Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer dead, 

Through which the living Homer begged his bread.” 


yi HOMER AND THE ODYSSEY. 

It has been conjectured, with apparent good reason, 
that he must have at one time known what battles were 
from experience, or he could not have described the con- 
tests of the Greeks and Trojans with such vivid power ; 
and that he must also have roamed through many lands, 
or he could not have given us such a picture of the jour- 
neyings and exploits of Ulysses. 

Some have even supposed that in the hero of the “ Odys- 
sey ” we have the best portrait of Homer himself. . If so, 
we know that he was not simply a poet, but, like Ulysses, 
a man “of many resources and many devices ” — a sort of 
Greek Yankee, always equal to the occasion, who could 
fight, sing, or flatter his way through all difficulties, and 
was sure of success in the end. 

To understand and enjoy this little book of Charles 
Lamb’s, one must know something of what precedes it. 

Within a few years an indefatigable German, digging 
in the soil of Asia Minor on a part of the coast not far 
from the straits of Dardanelles, has brought to light not 
only extensive ruins, but also arms and jewels. He be- 
lieves these belonged to the King of ancient Troy, or Ilias, 
that walled city which the Greeks besieged in order to 
regain the beautiful Helen, wife of one of their country- 
men, whom a prince of Troy had carried off with him a 
too willing captive. The “ Iliad ” of Homer is the story of 
the siege of the city and the victory of the Greeks. The 
sequel to it is the attempt of Ulysses, or Odysseus, one of 
the Greek heroes, to reach his home in the little island of 
Ithaca, where he was king. This forms the poem of the 
“Odyssey,” called after his Greek name. The -account, as 
our author gives it, opens after Ulysses has left the island 
of Calypso in the Mediterranean, where he was ship- 


HOMER AND THE ODYSSEY. 


vii 

wrecked, and where, at the entreaty of its queen, he had 
long remained. 

The metre and movement of the poem are the same as 
that of Longfellow’s “ Evangeline ” ; and if in reading the 
description of Ulysses, when he reveals himself to the 
terrified suitors in his palace in Ithaca, we read as follows, 
we shall get an idea of the force and fire of Homer’s true 
style, which may awaken a desire to know more : — 

“ Thereupon, stripping his tatters away, many-counselled Ulysses 
Strode to the threshold, and stood there, upholding his bow, and his 
quiver 

Brim-full of shafts ; on the ground he poured forth the light-winged 
arrows 

All in a pile at his feet, then turned to the suitors, and spake this : 

1 Yonder match has been played ; ye have seen my skill at the target : 
Now I will shoot a shot that no man, I fancy, will better, 

Into a different mark — if I may — and Apollo shall aid me.’ ” 

D. H. M. 


THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES. 


CHAPTER I. 

The Cicons. — The Fruit of the Lotus-tree. — Polyphemus and the 
Cyclops. — The Kingdom of the Winds, and God iEolus’s Fatal 
Present. — The Lsestrygonian Man-eaters. 

T HIS history tells of the wanderings of Ulysses and 
his followers in their return from Troy, after the 
destruction of that famous city of Asia by the Grecians. 
He was inflamed with a desire of seeing again, after a ten 
years’ absence, his wife and native country, Ithaca. He 
was king of a barren spot, and a poor country in com- 
parison with the fruitful plains of Asia, which he was 
leaving, or with the wealthy kingdoms which he touched 
upon in his return; yet, wherever he came, he could 
never see a soil which appeared in his eyes half so sweet 
or desirable as his country earth. This made him refuse 
the offers of the goddess Calypso to stay with her, and 
partake of her immortality in the delightful island ; and 
this gave him strength to break from the enchantments 
of Circe, the daughter of the Sun. 

Cicons (Cik'-ons). Polyphemus (Pol-y-phe'-mus). 

JEolus (E'-ol-us). Laestrygonian (Les-try-go'-ni-an). 

Troy : the scene of the Trojan war, a city of the north-western coast 
of Asia Minor, a few miles from the sea. 

Ithaca : a small island in the Ionian Sea, west of Greece. 

Calypso : she reigned over an island of the Mediterranean on which 
Ulysses was shipwrecked. Circe (CiF-ce). 


2 


THE ADVENTURES 


From Troy, ill winds cast Ulysses and his fleet upon 
the coast of the Cicons, a people hostile to the Grecians. 
Landing his forces, he laid siege to the chief city, Ismarus, 
which he took, and with it much spoil, and slew many 
people. But success proved fatal to him ; for his soldiers, 
elated with the spoil, and the good store of provisions 
which they found in that place, fell to eating and drink- 
ing, forgetful of their safety, till the Cicons, who in- 
habited the coast, had time to assemble their friends and 
allies from the interior ; who, mustering in prodigious 
force, set upon the Grecians, while they negligently 
revelled and feasted, and slew many of them, and recov- 
ered the spoil. They, dispirited and thinned in their 
numbers, with difficulty made their retreat good to the 
ships. 

Thence they set sail, sad at heart, yet something 
cheered that with such fearful odds against them they 
had not all been utterly destroyed. A dreadful tempest 
ensued, which for two nights and two days tossed them 
about, but the third day the weather cleared, and they 
had hopes of a favorable gale to carry them to Ithaca; 
but, as they doubled the Cape of Malea, suddenly a north 
wind arising drove them back as far as Cythera. After 
that, for the space of nine days, contrary winds continued 
to drive them in an opposite direction to the point to 
which they were bound, and the tenth day they put in 
at a shore where a race of men dwell that are sustained 
by the fruit of the lotos-tree. Here Ulysses sent some of 
his men to land for fresh water, who were met by certain 
of the inhabitants, that gave them some of their country 
food to eat — not with any ill intention towards them, 
Ismarus (Is'-m&-nis). Malea (Ma'-le-a). Cythera (Cy-the'-ra). 


OF ULYSSES. 


3 


though in the event it proved pernicious ; for, having 
eaten of this fruit, so pleasant it proved to their appetite 
that they in a minute quite forgot all thoughts of home, or 
of their countrymen, or of ever returning to the ships 
to give an account of what sort of inhabitants dwelt there, 
but they would needs stay and live there among them, and 
eat of that precious food forever; and when Ulysses sent 
other of his men to look for them, and to bring them 
back by force, they strove, and wept, and would not leave 
their food for heaven itself, so much the pleasure of that 
enchanting food had bewitched them. But Ulysses caused 
them to be bound hand and foot, and cast under the 
hatches ; and set sail with all possible speed from that 
baneful coast, lest others after them might taste the lotus, 
which had such strange qualities to make men forget their 
native country and the thoughts of home. 

Coasting on all that night by unknown and out-of-the- 
way shores, they came by daybreak to the land where the 
Cyclops dwell, a sort of giant shepherds that neither sow 
nor plough, but the earth untilled produces for them rich 
wheat and barley and grapes, yet they have neither bread 
nor wine, nor know the arts of cultivation, nor care to 
know them; for they live each man to himself, without 
laws or government, or anything like a state or kingdom ; 
but their dwellings are in caves, on the steep heads of 
mountains ; every man’s household governed by his own 
caprice, or not governed at all ; their wives and children 
as lawless as themselves, none caring for others, but each 
doing as he or she thinks good. Ships or boats they have 
none, nor artificers to make them, no trade or commerce, 
or wish to visit other shores ; yet they have convenient 
places for harbors and for shipping. Here Ulysses with a 


4 


THE ADVENTURES 


chosen party of twelve followers landed, to explore what 
sort of men dwelt there, whether hospitable and friendly 
to strangers, or altogether wild and savage, for as yet no 
dwellers appeared in sight. 

The first sign of habitation which they came to was a 
giant’s cave rudely fashioned, but of a size which be- 
tokened the vast proportions of its owner; the pillars 
which supported it being the bodies of huge oaks or pines, 
in the natural state of the tree, and all about showed more 
marks of strength than skill in whoever built it. Ulysses, 
entering it, admired the savage contrivances and artless 
structure of the place, and longed to see the tenant of so 
outlandish a mansion; but well conjecturing that gifts 
would have more avail in extracting courtesy than strength 
would succeed in forcing it, from such a one as he expected 
to find the inhabitant, he resolved to flatter his hospitality 
with a present of Greek wine, of which he had store in 
twelve great vessels, so strong that no one ever drank it 
without an infusion of twenty parts of water to 6ne of 
wine, yet the fragrance of it even then so delicious that it 
would have vexed a man who smelled it to abstain from 
tasting it ; but whoever tasted it, it was able to raise his 
courage to the height of heroic deeds. Taking with them 
a goat-skin flagon full of this precious liquor, they ventured 
into the recesses of the cave. Here they pleased them- 
selves a whole day with beholding the giant’s kitchen, 
where the flesh of sheep and goats lay strewed ; his dairy, 
where goat-milk stood ranged in troughs and pails; his 
pens, where he kept his live animals ; but those, he had 
driven forth to pasture with him when he went out in the 
morning. While they were feasting their eyes with a 

Goat-skin flagon : a vessel for carrying wine made of the skin of a goat. 


OF ULYSSES. 


5 


sight of these curiosities, their ears were suddenly deaf- 
ened with a noise like the falling of a house. It was the 
owner of the cave, who had been abroad all day feeding 
his flock, as his custom was, in the mountains, and now 
drove them home in the evening from pasture. He threw 
down a pile of fire-wood, which he had been gathering 
against supper-time, before the mouth of the cave, which 
occasioned the crash they heard. The Grecians hid them- 
selves in the remote parts of the cave at sight of the 
uncouth monster. It was Polyphemus, the largest and 
savagest of the Cyclops, who boasted himself to be the son 
of Neptune. He looked more like a mountain crag than 
a man, and to his brutal body he had a brutish mind an- 
swerable. He drove his flock, all that gave milk, to the 
interior of the cave, but left the rams and the he-goats 
without. Then taking up a stone so massy that twenty 
oxen could not have drawn it, he placed it at the mouth 
of the cave, to defend the entrance, and sat him down to 
milk his ewes and his goats ; which done, he lastly kindled 
a fire, and throwing his great eye round the cave (for the 
Cyclops have no more than one eye, and that placed in 
the midst of their forehead), by the glimmering light he 
discerned some of Ulysses’s men. 

“ Ho ! guests, what are you ? Merchants or wandering 
thieves ? ” he bellowed out in a voice which took from 
them all power of reply, it was so astounding. 

Only Ulysses summoned resolution to answer, that they 
came neither for plunder nor traffic, but were Grecians 
who had lost their way, returning from Troy ; which fa- 
mous city, under the conduct of Agamemnon, the renowned 
son of Atreus, they had sacked, and laid level with the 
Neptune : god of the sea. Atreus (A'-treus). 


6 


THE ADVENTURES 


ground. Yet now they prostrated themselves humbly be- 
fore his feet, whom they acknowledged to be mightier than 
they, and besought him that he would bestow the rites of 
hospitality upon them, for that Jove was the avenger of 
wrongs done to strangers, and would fiercely resent any 
injury which they might suffer. 

44 Fool ! ” said the Cyclop, 44 to come so far to preach to 
me the fear of the gods. We Cyclops care not for your 
Jove, whom you fable to be nursed by a goat, nor any of 
your blessed ones. We are stronger than they, and dare 
bid open battle to Jove himself, though you and all your 
fellows of the earth join with him.” And he bade them 
tell him where their ship was in which they came, and 
whether they had any companions. But Ulysses, with a 
wise caution, made answer that they had no ship or com- 
panions, but were unfortunate men, whom the sea, split- 
ting their ship in pieces, had dashed upon his coast, and 
they alone had escaped. He replied nothing, but griping 
two of the nearest of them, as if they had been no more 
than children, he dashed their brains out against the earth, 
and, shocking to relate, tore in pieces their limbs, and de- 
voured them yet warm and trembling, making a lion’s 
meal of them, lapping the blood ; for the Cyclops are man- 
eaters, and esteem human flesh to be a delicacy far above 
goat’s or kid’s ; though by reason of their abhorred cus- 
toms few men approach their coast, except some stragglers, 
or now and then a shipwrecked mariner. At a sight so 
horrid, Ulysses and his men were like distracted people. 
He, when he had made an end of his wicked supper, 
drained a draught of goat’s milk down his prodigious 
throat, and lay down and slept among his goats. Then 
Jove : the greatest of the gods. 


OF ULYSSES. 


7 


Ulysses drew his sword, and half resolved to thrust it 
: with all his might in at the bosom of the sleeping monster ; 
> but wiser thoughts restrained him, else they had there 
| without help all perished, for none but Polyphemus him- 
self could have removed that mass of stone which he had 
! placed to guard the entrance. So they were constrained 
to abide all that night in fear. 

When day came, the Cyclop awoke, and kindling a fire, 

' made his breakfast of two other of his unfortunate prison- 
| ers, then milked his goats as he was accustomed, and 
; pushing aside the vast stone, and shutting it again when 
! he had done, upon the prisoners, with as much ease as a 
| man opens and shuts a quiver’s lid, he let out his flock, 
and drove them before him with whistlings (as sharp as 
winds in storms) to the mountains. 

Then Ulysses, of whose strength or cunning the Cyclop 
seems to have had as little heed as of an infant’s, being 
left alone, with the remnant of his men which the Cyclop 
had not devoured, gave manifest proof how far manly 
wisdom excels brutish force. He chose a stake from 
among the wood which the Cyclop had piled up for firing, 
in length and thickness like a mast, which he sharpened 
and hardened in the fire, and selected four men, and in- 
structed them what they should do with this stake, and 
made them perfect in their parts. 

When the evening was come, the Cyclop drove home 
his sheep ; and as fortune directed it, either of purpose, or 
that his memory was overruled by the gods to his hurt (as 
in the issue it proved), he drove the males of his flock, 
contrary to his custom, along with the dams into the pens. 
Then shutting-to the stone of the cave, he fell to his horri- 
ble supper. When he had despatched two more of the 


8 


THE ADVENTURES 


Grecians, Ulysses waxed bold with the contemplation of 
his project, and took a bowl of Greek wine, and merrily 
dared the Cyclop to drink. 

“ Cyclop,” he said, “ take a bowl of wine from the hand 
of your guest : it may serve to digest the man’s flesh that 
you have eaten, and show what drink our ship held before 
it went down. All I ask in recompense, if you find it 
good, is to be dismissed in a whole skin. Truly you must 
look to have few visitors, if you observe this new custom 
of eating your guests.” 

The brute took and drank, and vehemently enjoyed the 
taste of wine, which was new to him, and swilled again at 
the flagon, and entreated for more, and prayed Ulysses to 
tell him his name, that he might bestow a gift upon the 
man who had given him such brave liquor. The Cyclops, 
he said, had grapes, but this rich juice, he swore, was 
simply divine. Again Ulysses plied him with the wine, 
and the fool drank it as fast as he poured out, and again 
he asked the name of his benefactor, which Ulysses, cun- 
ningly dissembling, said, “ My name is Noman : my kin- 
dred and friends in my own country call me Noman.” 
“ Then,” said the Cyclop, “ this is the kindness I will show 
thee, Noman : I will eat thee last of all thy friends.” He 
had scarce expressed his savage kindness, when the fumes 
of the strong wine overcame him, and he reeled down upon 
the floor and sank into a dead sleep. 

Ulysses watched his time, while the monster lay insensi- 
ble, and, heartening up his men, they placed the sharp end 
of the stake in the fire till it was heated red-hot, and some 
god gave them a courage beyond that which they were 
used to have, and the four men with difficulty bored the 
sharp end of the huge stake, which they had heated red- 


OF ULYSSES. 


9 


♦ 

hot, right into the eye of the drunken cannibal, and 
Ulysses helped to thrust it in with all his might, still 
farther and farther, with effort, as men bore with an 
auger, till the scalded blood gushed out, and the eye-ball 
smoked, and the strings of the eye cracked, as the burning 
rafter broke in it, and the eye hissed, as hot iron hisses 
when it is plunged into water. 

He, waking, roared with the pain so loud that all the 
cavern broke into claps like thunder. They fled, and dis- 
persed into corners. He plucked the burning stake from 
his eye, and hurled the wood madly about the cave. Then 
he cried out with a mighty voice for his brethren the 
Cyclops, that dwelt hard by in caverns upon hills ; they, 
hearing the terrible shout, came flocking from all parts to 
inquire, What ailed Polyphemus? and what cause he had 
for making such horrid clamors in the night-time to break 
their sleeps? if his fright proceeded from any mortal? if 
strength or craft had given him his death’s blow? He 
made answer from within that Noman had hurt him, 
Noman had killed him, Noman was with him in the 
cave. They replied, “If no man has hurt thee, and no 
man is with thee, then thou art alone, and the evil that 
afflicts thee is from the hand of Heaven, which none can 
resist or help.” So they left him and went their way, 
thinking that some disease troubled him. He, blind and 
ready to split with the anguish of the pain, went groaning 
up and down in the dark, to find the door-way, which 
when he found, he removed the stone, and sat in the 
threshold, feeling if he could lay hold on any man going 
out with the sheep, which (the day now breaking) were 
beginning to issue forth to their accustomed pastures. 
But Ulysses, whose first artifice in giving himself that 


10 


THE ADVENTURES 


• 

ambiguous name had succeeded so well with the Cyclop, 
was not of a wit so gross to be caught by that palpable 
device. But casting about in his mind all the ways which 
he could contrive for escape (no less than all their lives 
depending on the success), at last he thought of this 
expedient. He made knots of the osier twigs upon which 
the Cyclop commonly slept ; with which he tied the fattest 
and fleeciest of the rams together, three in a rank, and 
under the middle ram he tied a man, and himself last, 
wrapping himself fast with both hands in the rich wool of 
one, the fairest of the flock. 

And now the sheep began to issue forth very fast ; the 
males went first, the females, unmilked, stood by, bleating 
and requiring the hand of their shepherd in vain to milk 
them. Still, as the males passed, he felt the backs of those 
fleecy fools, never dreaming that they carried his enemies 
under them ; so they passed on till the last ram came 
loaded with his wool and Ulysses together. He stopped 
that ram and felt him, and had his hand once in the hair 
of Ulysses, yet knew it not, and he chid the ram for being 
last, and spoke to it as if it understood him, and asked it 
whether it did not wish that its master had his eye again, 
which that abominable Noman with his execrable rout had 
put out, when they had got him down with wine ; and he 
willed the ram to tell him whereabouts in the cave his 
enemy lurked, that he might dash his brains and strew 
them about, to ease his heart of that tormenting revenge 
which rankled in it. After a deal of such foolish talk to 
the beast, he let it go. 

When Ulysses found himself free, he let go his hold, and 
assisted in disengaging his friends. The rams which had 
befriended them they carried off with them to the ships, 


OF ULYSSES. 


11 


where their companions with tears in their eyes received 
them, as men escaped from death. They plied their oars, 
and set their sails, and when they were got as far off from 
shore as a voice could reach, Ulysses cried out to the Cy- 
clop : “ Cyclop, thou shouldst not have so much abused thy 
monstrous strength, as to devour thy guests. Jove by my 
hand sends thee requital to pay thy savage inhumanity.” 
The Cyclop heard, and came forth enraged, and in his 
anger he plucked a fragment of a rock, and threw it with 
blind fury at the ships. It narrowly escaped lighting upon 
the bark in which Ulysses sat, but with the fall it raised 
so fierce an ebb as bore back the ship till it almost touched 
the shore. “ Cyclop,” said Ulysses, “ if any ask thee who 
imposed on thee that unsightly blemish in thine eye, say 
it was Ulysses, son of Laertes : the king of Ithaca am I 
called, the waster of cities.” Then they crowded sail, and 
beat the old sea, and forth they went with a forward gale; 
sad for former losses, yet glad to have escaped at any rate ; 
till they came to the isle where iEolus reigned, who is god 
of the winds. 

Here Ulysses and his men were courteously received by 
the monarch, Avho showed him his twelve children which 
have rule over the twelve winds. A month they stayed 
and feasted with him, and at the end of the month he dis- 
missed them with many presents, and gave to Ulysses at 
parting an ox’s hide, in which were enclosed all the winds : 
only he left abroad the western wind, to play upon their 
sails and waft them gently home to Ithaca. This bag, 
bound in a glittering silver band so close that no breath 
could escape, Ulysses hung up at the mast. His compan- 
ions did not know its contents, but guessed that the mon- 
arch had given to him some treasures of gold or silver. 


12 


THE ADVENTURES 


Nine days they sailed smoothly, favored by the western 
wind, and by the tenth they approached so nigh as to dis- 
cern lights kindled on the shores of their country earth : 
when, by ill-fortune, Ulysses, overcome with fatigue of 
watching the helm, fell asleep. The mariners seized the 
opportunity, and one of them said to the rest, “A fine 
time has this leader of ours ; wherever he goes he is sure 
of presents, when we come away empty-handed ; and see 
what King Aeolus has given him, store no doubt of gold 
and silver.” A word was enough to those covetous wretches, 
who quick as thought untied the bag, and, instead of gold, 
out rushed with mighty noise all the winds. Ulysses with 
the noise awoke, and saw their mistake, but too late, for 
the ship was driving with all the winds back far from Ithaca, 
far as to the island of AColus from which they had parted, 
in one hour measuring back what in nine days they had 
scarcely tracked, and in sight of home too ! Up he flew 
amazed, and, raving, doubted whether he should not fling 
himself into the sea for grief of his bitter disappointment. 
At last he hid himself under the hatches for shame. And 
scarce could he be prevailed upon, when he was told he 
was arrived again in the harbor of king Aeolus, to go him- 
self or send to that monarch for a second succor ; so much 
the disgrace of having misused his royal bounty (though 
it was the crime of his followers, and not his own) weighed 
upon him ; and when at last he went, and took a herald 
with him, and came where the god sat on his throne, feast- 
ing with his children, he would not thrust in among them 
at their meat, but set himself down like one unworthy in 
the threshold. 

Indignation seized AEolus to behold him in that manner 
Herald : i.e., a person to announce him. 


OF ULYSSES. 


13 


returned ; and he said : “ Ulysses, what has brought you 
back? Are you so soon tired of your country; or did 
not our present please you? We thought we had given 
you a kingly passport.” Ulysses made answer : “ My men 
have done this ill mischief to me ; they did it while I 
slept.” “Wretch!” said Aeolus, “avaunt, and quit our 
shores : it fits not us to convoy men whom the gods hate, 
and will have perish.” 

Forth they sailed, but with far different hopes than 
when they left the same harbor the first time with all the 
winds confined, only the west wind suffered to play upon 
their sails to waft them in gentle murmurs to Ithaca. 
They were now the sport of every gale that blew, and 
despaired of ever seeing home more. Now those covetous 
mariners were cured of their surfeit for gold, and would 
not have touched it if it had lain in untold heaps before 
them. 

Six days and nights they drove along, and on the 
seventh day they put into Lamos, a port of the Lsestry- 
go nians. So spacious this harbor was that it held with 
ease all their fleet, which rode at anchor, safe from any 
storms, all but the ship in which Ulysses was embarked. 
He, as if prophetic of the mischance which followed, kept 
still without the harbor, making fast his bark to a rock at 
the land’s point, which he climbed with purpose to sur- 
vey the country. He saw a city with smoke ascending 
from the roofs, but neither ploughs going, nor oxen yoked, 
nor any sign of agricultural works. Making choice of two 
men, he sent them to the city to explore what sort of 
inhabitants dwelt there. His messengers had not gone 
far before they met a damsel, of stature surpassing human, 
who was coming to draw water from a spring. They 


14 


THE ADVENT UEES 


asked her who dwelt in that land. She made no reply, 
bnt led them in silence to her father’s palace. He was a 
monarch, and named Antiphas. He and all his people 
were giants. When they entered the palace, a woman, 
the mother of the damsel, but far taller than she, rushed 
abroad and called for Antiphas. He came, and snatch- 
ing up one of the two men, made as if he would de- 
vour him. The other fled. Antiphas raised a mighty 
shout, and instantly, this way and that, multitudes of 
gigantic people issued out at the gates, and, making for 
the harbor, tore up huge pieces of the rocks and flung 
them at the ships which lay there, all which they utterly 
overwhelmed and sank ; and the unfortunate bodies of 
men which floated, and which the sea did not devour, 
these cannibals thrust through with harpoons, like fishes, 
and bore them off to their dire feast. Ulysses with his 
single bark, that had never entered the harbor, escaped ; 
that bark which was now the only vessel left of all the 
gallant navy that -had set sail with him from Troy. He 
pushed off from the shore, cheering the sad remnant of 
his men, whom horror at the sight of their countrymen’s 
fate had almost turned to marble. 


Antiphas ( An'-ti-plias). 


OF ULYSSES. 


15 


CHAPTER II 

The House of Circe. — Men changed into Beasts. — The Voyage to the 
Underworld, or Abode of the Dead. — The Banquet of the Dead. 

O N went the single ship till it came to the island of 
iEsea, where Circe, the dreadful daughter of the 
Sun, dwelt. She was deeply skilled in magic, a haughty 
beauty, and had hair like the Sun. The Sun was her 
father, and Perse, daughter to Oceanus, her mother. 

Here a dispute arose among Ulysses’s men, which of 
them should go ashore and explore the country; for there 
was a necessity that some should go to procure water 
and provisions, their stock of both being nigh spent; but 
their hearts failed them when they called to mind the 
shocking fate of their fellows whom the Lsestrygonians 
had eaten, and those which the foul Cyclop Polyphemus 
had crushed between his jaws; which moved them so 
tenderly in the recollection that they wept. But tears 
never yet supplied any man’s wants; this Ulysses knew 
full well, and dividing his men (all that were left) into 
two companies, at the head of one of which was himself, 
and at the head of the other Eurylochus, a man of tried 
courage, he cast lots which of them should go up into 
the country, and the lot fell upon Eurylochus, and his 
company, two-and-twenty in number, who took their 
leave, with tears, of Ulysses and his men that stayed, 
whose eyes wore the same wet badges of weak humanity, 

JEsea (E-e'-a). Perse (Per'-se). 

Oceanus (O-ce'-an-us). Eurylochus (Eu-ryl'-o-kus). 


16 


THE AD YEN TUBES 


for they surely thought never to see these their com- 
panions again, but that on every coast where they 
should come, they should find nothing but savages and 
cannibals. 

Eurylochus and his party proceeded up the country, till 
in a dale they descried the house of Circe, built of bright 
stone, by the roadside. Before her gate lay many beasts, 
as wolves, lions, leopards, which, by her art, from wild, she 
had rendered tame. These arose when they saw strangers, 
and stood upon their hinder paws, and fawned upon Eury- 
lochus and his men, who dreaded the effects of such mon- 
strous kindness ; and staying at the gate they heard the 
enchantress within, sitting at her loom, singing such 
strains as suspended all mortal faculties, while she wove 
a web, subtle and glorious, and of texture inimitable on 
earth, as all the housewiferies of the deities are. Strains 
so ravishingly sweet provoked even the sagest and pru- 
dentest heads among the party to knock and call at the 
gate. The shining gate the enchantress opened, and bade 
them come in and feast. They unwise followed, all but 
Eurylochus, who stayed without the gate, suspicious that 
some train was laid for them. Being entered, she placed 
them in chairs of state, and set before them meal and 
honey, and Smyrna wine, but mixed with baneful drugs 
of powerful enchantment. When they had eaten of 
these, and drunk of her cup, she touched them with her 
charming-rod, and straight they were transformed into 
swine, having the bodies of swine, the bristles, and snout, 
and grunting noise of that animal; only they still retained 
the minds of men, which made them the more to lament 
their brutish transformation. Having changed them, she 
shut them up in her sty with many more whom her 


OF ULYSSES. 


17 


wicked sorceries had formerly changed, and gave them 
swine’s food — mast, and acorns, and chestnuts — to eat. 

Eurylochus, who beheld nothing of these sad changes 
from where he was stationed without the gate, only 
instead of his companions that entered (who he thought 
had all vanished by witchcraft) beheld a herd of swine, 
hurried back to the ship, to give an account of what he 
had seen ; but so frighted and perplexed, that he could 
give no distinct report of anything, only he remembered a 
a palace, and a woman singing at her work, and gates 
guarded by lions. But his companions, he said, were all 
vanished. 

Then Ulysses, suspecting some foul witchcraft, snatched 
his sword and his bow, and commanded Eurylochus in- 
stantly to lead him to the place. But Eurylochus fell 
down, and, embracing his knees, besought him by the 
name of a man whom the gods had in their protection, 
not to expose his safety, and the safety of them all, to 
certain destruction. 

“Do thou then stay, Eurylochus,” answered Ulysses: 
“eat thou and drink in the ship in safety; while I go 
alone upon this adventure: necessity, from whose law is 
no appeal, compels me.” 

So saying, he quitted the ship and went on shore, ac- 
companied by none ; none had the hardihood to offer to 
partake that perilous adventure with him, so much they 
dreaded the enchantments of the witch. Singly he pur- 
sued his journey till he came to the shining gates which 
stood before her mansion ; but when he essayed to put his 
foot over her threshold, he was suddenly stopped by the 
apparition of a young man, bearing a golden rod in his 
Mast : beech-nuts, etc. 


18 


THE ADVENTURES 


hand, who was the god Mercury. He held Ulysses by the 
wrist, to stay his entrance ; and “ Whither wouldest thou 
go ? ” he said, “ O thou most erring of the sons of men ! 
knowest thou not that this is the house of great Circe, 
where she keeps thy friends in a loathsome sty, changed 
from the fair forms of men into the detestable and ugly 
shapes of swine? art thou prepared to share their fate, 
from which nothing can ransom thee?” But neither his 
words nor his coming from heaven could stop the daring 
foot of Ulysses, whom compassion for the misfortune of 
his friends had rendered careless of danger : which when 
the god perceived, he had pity to see valor so misplaced, 
and gave him the flower of the herb moly , which is sov- 
ereign against enchantments. The moly is a small un- 
sightly root, its virtues but little known and in low 
estimation ; the dull shepherd treads on it every day with 
his clouted shoes ; but it bears a small white flower, which 
is medicinal against charms, blights, mildews, and damps. 
“Take this in thy hand,” said Mercury, “and with it 
boldly enter her gates ; when she shall strike thee with 
her rod, thinking to change thee, as she has changed thy 
friends, boldly rush in upon her with thy sword, and 
extort from her the dreadful oath of the gods, that she 
will use no enchantments against thee ; then force her to 
restore thy abused companions.” He gave Ulysses the 
little white flower, and, instructing him how to use it, 
vanished. 

When the god was departed, Ulysses with loud knockings 
beat at the gate of the palace. The shining gates were 
opened, as before, and great Circe with hospitable cheer 
invited in her guest. She placed him on a throne with 
Clouted : studded with hob-nails. 


OF ULYSSES. 


19 


more distinction than she had used to his fellows ; she 
mingled wine in a costly bowl, and he drank of it, mixed 
with those poisonous drugs. When he had drunk, she 
struck him with her charming-rod, and “ To your sty ! ” 
she cried ; “ out, swine ! mingle with your companions ! ” 
But those powerful words were not proof against the pre- 
servative which Mercury had given to Ulysses; he re- 
mained unchanged, and, as the god had directed him, 
boldly charged the witch with his sword, as if he meant to 
take her life ; which when she saw, and perceived that her 
charms were weak against the antidote which Ulysses bore 
about him, she cried out and bent her knees beneath his 
sword, embracing his, and said, “ Who or what manner of 
man art thou ? Never drank any man before thee of 'this 
cup but he repented it in some brute’s form. Thy shape 
remains unaltered as thy mind. Thou canst be none other 
than Ulysses, renowned above all the world for wisdom, 
whom the Fates have long since decreed that I must love. 
This haughty bosom bends to thee. O Ithacan, a goddess 
wooes thee.” 

“ O Circe,” he replied, “ how canst thou treat of love or 
marriage with one whose friends thou hast turned into 
beasts? and now offerest him thy hand in wedlock, only that 
thou mightest have him in thy power, to live the life of a 
beast with thee, effeminate, subject to thy will, perhaps to 
be advanced in time to the honor of a place in thy sty. 
What pleasure canst thou promise which may tempt the 
soul of a reasonable man ? Thy meats, spiced with poison ; 
or thy wines, drugged with death ? Thou must swear to 
me that thou wilt never attempt against me the treasons 
which thou hast practised upon my friends.” The en- 
chantress, won by the terror of his threats, or by the vio- 


20 


THE ADVENTURES 


lence of that new love which she felt kindling in her veins 
for him, swore by Styx, the great oath of the gods, that 
she meditated no injury to him. Then Ulysses made show 
of gentler treatment, which gave her hopes of inspiring him 
with a passion equal to that which she felt. She called 
her handmaids, four that served her in chief, who were 
daughters to her silver fountains, to her sacred rivers, and to 
her consecrated woods, to deck her apartments, to spread 
rich carpets, and set her silver tables with dishes of the 
purest gold, and meat as precious as that which the gods 
eat, to entertain her guest. One brought water to wash 
his feet, and one brought wine to chase away, with a re- 
freshing sweetness, the sorrows that had come of late so 
thick upon him, aim hurt his noble mind. They strewed 
perfumes on his head, and, after he had bathed in a bath 
of the choicest aromatics, they brought him rich and costly 
apparel to put on. Then he was conducted to a throne of 
massy silver, and a regale, fit for Jove when he banquets, 
was placed before him. But the feast which Ulysses de- 
sired was to see his friends (the partners of his voyage) 
once more in the shapes of men ; and the food which could 
give him nourishment must be taken in at his eyes. Be- 
cause he missed this sight, he sat melancholy and thought- 
ful, and would taste of none of the rich delicacies placed 
before him. Which when Circe noted, she easily divined 
the cause of his sadness, and leaving the seat in which she 
sat throned, went to her sty, and let abroad his men, who 
came in like swine, and filled the ample hall, where Ulys- 
ses sat, with grun tings. Hardly had he time to let his sad 
eye run over their altered forms and brutal metamorphosis, 
when, with an ointment which she smeared over them, 

Styx : a river of the underworld, or abode of the dead. 

Metamorphosis ( met-a-mor'-pho-sis ) . 


OF ULYSSES. 


21 


suddenly their bristles fell off, and they started up in their 
own shapes, men as before. They knew their leader again, 
and clung about him, with joy of their late restoration, 
and some shame for their late change ; and wept so loud, 
blubbering out their joy in broken accents, that the palace 
was filled with a sound of pleasing mourning, and the 
witch herself, great Circe, was not unmoved at the sight. 
To make her atonement complete, she sent for the remnant 
of Ulysses’s men who stayed behind at the ship, giving up 
their great commander for lost; who when they came, and 
saw him again alive, circled with their fellows, no expres- 
sion can tell what joy they felt ; they even cried out with 
rapture, and to have seen their frantic expressions of mirth 
a man might have supposed that they were just in sight of 
their native country, the cliffs of rocky Ithaca. Only 
Eurylochus would hardly be persuaded to enter that 
palace of wonders, for he remembered with a kind of hor- 
ror how his companions had vanished from his sight. 

Then great Circe spake, and gave order that there should 
be no more sadness among them, nor remembering of past 
sufferings. For as yet they fared like men that are exiles 
from their country, and if a gleam of mirth shot among 
them, it was suddenly quenched with the thought of their 
helpless and homeless condition. Her kind persuasions 
wrought upon Ulysses and the rest, that they spent twelve 
months in all manner of delight with her in her palace. 
For Circe was a powerful magician, and could command 
the moon from her sphere, or unroot the solid oak from its 
place to make it dance for their diversion, and by the help 
of her illusions she could vary the taste of pleasures, and 
contrive delights, recreations, and jolly pastimes, to “ fetch 
the day about from sun to sun, and rock the tedious year 
as in a delightful dream.” 


22 


THE ADVENTURES 


At length Ulysses awoke from the trance of the facul- 
ties into which her charms had thrown him, and the thought 
of home returned with tenfold vigor to goad and sting 
him ; that home where he had left his virtuous wife Pene- 
lope, and his young son Telemachus. One day when Circe 
had been lavish of her caresses, and was in her kindest 
humor, he moved to her subtly, and as it were afar off, the 
question of his home-return ; to which she answered firmly, 
“ O Ulysses, it is not in my power to detain one whom the 
gods have destined to further trials. But leaving me, be- 
fore you pursue your journey home, you must visit the 
house of Ades, or Death, to consult the shade of Tiresias 
the Theban prophet ; to whom alone, of all the dead, Pros- 
erpine, queen of the underworld, has committed the secret 
of future events : it is he that must inform you whether 
you shall ever see again your wife and country.” 44 O 
Circe,” he cried, 44 that is impossible : who shall steer my 
course to Pluto’s kingdom? Never ship had strength ^o 
make that voyage.” “ Seek no guide,” she replied ; 44 but 
raise you your mast, and hoist your white sails, and sit in 
your ship in peace : the north wind shall waft you through 
the seas, till you shall cross the expanse of the ocean and 
come to where grow the poplar groves and willows pale of 
Proserpine : where Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus and Ach- 
eron mingle their waves. Cocytus is an arm of Styx, the 

Penelope (Pe-nSl'-o-pe). Telemachus (Te-lem'-&-kus). 

Ades (A'-des). Tiresias (Ti-re'-si-as). 

Proserpine (Pro-ser'-pi-nS). 

Raise you your mast: the so-called ships of Ulysses were simply 
large sail-boats ; the masts were taken out and laid down in the boats on 
landing, and the boats themselves were often drawn on shore. 

Pyriphlegethon (Pjf-ri-plileg'-S-thon), Cocytus (Co-cy'-tus), Acheron 
(Ak'-e-ron) : tributaries of rivers of the underworld. 


OF ULYSSES. 


23 


| forgetful river. Here dig a pit, and make it a cubit broad 
and a cubit long, and pour in milk, and honey, and wine, 
land the blood of a ram, and the blood of a black ewe, and 
turn away thy face while thou pourest in, and the dead 
shall come flocking to taste the milk and the blood; but 
suffer none to approach thy offering till thou hast inquired 
of Tiresias all which thou wishest to know.” 

He did as great Circe had appointed. He raised his 
mast, and hoisted his white sails, and sat in his ship in 
peace. The north wind wafted him through the seas, till 
he crossed the ocean, and came to the sacred woods of 
Proserpine. He stood at the confluence of the three floods, 
and digged a pit, as she had given directions, and poured 
in his offering — the blood of a ram, and the blood of a 
black ewe, milk, and honey, and wine; and the dead came 
to his banquet; aged men, and women, and youths, and 
children who died in infancy. But none of them would 
he suffer to approach, and dip their thin lips in the offer- 
ing, till Tiresias was served, not though his own mother 
was among the number, whom now for the first time he 
knew to be dead, for he had left her living when he went 
. to Troy, and she had died since his departure, and the tid- 
ings never reached him ; though it irked his soul to use 
constraint upon her, yet in compliance with the injunction 
of great Circe he forced her to retire along with the other 
ghosts. Then Tiresias, who bore a golden sceptre, came 
and lapped of the offering, and immediately he knew 
Ulysses, and began to prophesy : he denounced woe to 
Llysses — woe , woe , and many sufferings — through the an- 
ger of Neptune for the putting out of the eye of the sea-god's 
son. Yet there was safety after suffering , if they could ab- 
Cubit : the length of the fore-arm, about a foot and a half, 


24 


THE ADVENTURES 


stain from slaughtering the oxen of the Sun after they landed 
in the Triangular island. For Ulysses , the gods had des- 
tined him from a king to become a beggar , and to perish by 
his own guests , unless he slew those who knew him not. 

This prophecy, ambiguously delivered, was all that 
Tiresias was empowered to unfold, or else there was no 
longer place for him ; for now the souls of the other dead 
came flocking in such numbers, tumultuously demanding 
the blood, that freezing horror seized the limbs of the liv- 
ing Ulysses, to see so many, and all dead, and he the only 
one alive in that region. Now his mother came and lapped 
the blood, without restraint from her son, and now she 
knew him to be her son, and inquired of him why he had 
come alive to their comfortless habitations. And she said 
that affliction for Ulysses’s long absence had preyed upon 
her spirits, and brought her to the grave. 

Ulysses’s soul melted at her moving narration, and for- 
getting the state of the dead, and that the airy texture of 
disembodied spirits does not admit of the embraces of 
flesh and blood, he threw his arms about her to clasp her : 
the poor ghost melted from his embrace, and, looking 
mournfully upon him, vanished away. 

But now came a mournful ghost, that late was Aga- 
memnon, son of Atreus, the mighty leader of all the host 
of Greece and their confederate kings that warred against 
Troy. He came with the rest to sip a little of the blood 
at that uncomfortable banquet. Utysses was moved with 
compassion to see him among them, and asked him what 
untimely fate had brought him there, if storms had over- 
whelmed him coming from Troy, or if he had perished in 
some mutiny by his own soldiers at a division of the prey. 

The Triangular island : Sicily. 


OF ULYSSES. 


25 


“By none of these,” he replied, “did I come to my 
death ; but slain at a banquet to which I was invited by 
JEgisthus after my return home. He conspiring with my 
wife, they laid a scheme for my destruction, training me 
forth to a banquet as an ox goes to the slaughter, and, 
there surrounding me, they slew me with all my friends 
about me. 

“ Clytemnestra, my wicked wife, forgetting the vows 
which she swore to me in wedlock, would not lend a hand 
to close my eyes in death. But nothing is so heaped 
with impieties as such a woman, who would kill her 
spouse that married her a maid. When I brought her 
home to my house a bride, I hoped in my heart that she 
would be loving to me and my children. Now, her black 
treacheries have cast a foul aspersion on her whole sex. 
Blessed husbands will have their loving wives in suspicion 
for her bad deeds.” 

“ Alas ! ” said Ulysses, “ there seems to be a fatality in 
your royal house of Atreus, and that they are hated of 
Jove for their wives. For Helen’s sake, your brother 
Menelaus’s wife, what multitudes fell in the wars of 
Troy ! ” 

Agamemnon* replied, “ For this cause be not thou more 
kind than wise to any woman. Let not thy words ex- 
press to her at any time all that is in thy mind, keep still 
some secrets to thyself. But thou by any bloody con- 
trivances of thy wife never needst fear to fall. Exceeding 
wise she is, and to her wisdom she has a goodness as 
eminent ; Icarius’s daughter, Penelope the chaste : we left 
her a young bride when we parted from our wives to go to 

iEgisthus (E-gis'-thus). Clytemnestra (Clyt-em-nes'-tra). 

Menelaus (M6n-6-la'-us). Icarius (I-ea'-ri-us). 


26 


THE ADVENTURES 


the wars, with her first child at her breast, the young Telem- 
achus, whom you shall see grown up to manhood on 
your return, and he shall greet his father with befitting 
welcomes. My Orestes, my dear son, I shall never see 
again. His mother has deprived his father of the sight of 
him, and perhaps will slay him as she slew his sire. It is 
now no world to trust a woman in. But what says fame ? 
is my son yet alive ? lives he in Orchomen, or in Pylus, 
or is he resident in Sparta, in his uncle’s court? As 
yet, I see, divine Orestes is not here with me.” 

To this Ulysses replied that he had received no certain 
tidings where Orestes abode, only some uncertain rumors 
which he could not report for truth. 

While they held this sad conference, with kind tears 
striving to render unkind fortunes more palatable, the 
soul of great Achilles joined them. 44 What desperate 
adventure has brought Ulysses to these regions,” said 
Achilles ; 44 to see the end of dead men, and their foolish 
shades ? ” 

Ulysses answered him that he had come to consult Tire- 
sias respecting his voyage home. “But thou, O son of 
Thetis,” said he, 44 why dost thou disparage the state of 
the dead? seeing that as alive thou didst surpass all men 
in glory, thou must needs retain thy pre-eminence here 
below : so great Achilles triumphs over death.” 

But Achilles made reply that he had much rather be a 
peasant-slave upon the earth than reign over all the dead. 
So much did the inactivity and slothful condition of that 
state displease his unquenchable and restless spirit. Only 
he inquired of Ulysses if his father Peleus were living, 
and how his son Neoptolemus conducted himself. 

Orestes (O-res'-tes). Orcliomen (Or'-kom-en). Pylus (Pyl'-us). 
Achilles (A-kil'-les). Thetis (Thet-is). Peleus (Pe-leus). 


OF ULYSSES. 


27 


Of Peleus Ulysses could tell him nothing; but of Neop- 
tolemus he thus bore witness : “ From Scyros I convoyed 
your son by sea to the Greeks: where I can speak of 
him, for I knew him. He was chief in council, and in 
the field. When any question was proposed, so quick 
was his conceit in the forward apprehension of any case, 
that he ever spoke first, and was heard with more atten- 
tion than the older heads. Only myself and aged Nestor 
could compare with him in giving advice. In battle I 
cannot speak his praise, unless I could count all that fell 
by his sword. I will only mention one instance of his 
manhood. When we sat hid within the wooden horse, in 
the ambush which deceived the Trojans to their destruc- 
tion, I, who had the management of that stratagem, still 
shifted my place from side to side to note the behavior of 
our men. In some I marked their hearts trembling, through 
all the pains which they took to appear valiant, and in 
others tears, that in spite of manly courage would gush 
forth. And to say truth, it was an adventure of high en- 
terprise, and as perilous a stake as was ev6r played in 
war’s game. But in him I could not observe the least 
sign of weakness, no tears nor tremblings, but his hand 
still on his good sword, and ever urging me to set open 
the machine and let us out before the time was come for 
doing it; and when we sallied out. he was still first in that 
fierce destruction and bloody midnight desolation of king 
Priam’s city.” 

This made the soul of Achilles to tread a swifter pace, 
with high-raised feet, as he vanished away, for the joy 
which he took in his son being applauded by Ulysses. 

A sad shade stalked by, which Ulysses knew to be the 

Neoptolemus (NS-op-toF-Sm-us). Conceit: i.e., understanding. 


28 


THE ADVENTURES 


ghost of Ajax, his opponent, when living, in that famous 
dispute about the right of succeeding to the arms of the 
deceased Achilles. They being adjudged by the Greeks to 
Ulysses, as the prize of wisdom above bodily strength, the 
noble Ajax in despite went mad, and slew himself. The 
sight of his rival turned to a shade by his dispute so sub- 
dued the passion of emulation in Ulysses that for his sake 
he wished that judgment in that controversy had been 
given against himself, rather than so illustrious a chief 
should have perished for the desire of those arms which 
his prowess (second only to Achilles in fight) so eminently 
had deserved. “Ajax,” he cried, “all the Greeks mourn 
for thee as much as they lamented for Achilles. Let not 
thy wrath burn forever, great son of Telamon. Ulysses 
seeks peace with thee, and will make any atonement to 
thee that can appease thy hurt spirit.” But the shade 
stalked on, and would not exchange a word with Ulysses, 
though he prayed it with many tears and many earnest 
entreaties. “ He might have spoke to me,” said Ulysses, 
“ since I spake to him ; but I see the resentments of the 
dead are eternal.” 

Then Ulysses saw a throne on which was placed a judge 
distributing sentence. He that sat on the throne was 
Minos, and he was dealing out just judgments to the dead. 
He it is that assigns them their place in bliss or woe. 

Then came by a thundering ghost, the large-limbed 
Orion, the mighty hunter, who was hunting there the 
ghosts of the beasts which he had slaughtered in desert 
hills upon the earth. For the dead delight in the occu- 
pations which pleased them in the time of their living 
upon the earth. 

Telamon (Tei'-a-mon). Minos (MI'-nos). Orion (O-rl'-on). 


OF ULYSSES. 


29 


There was Tityus suffering eternal pains. Two vul- 
tures sat perpetually preying upon his liver with their 
crooked beaks ; which as fast as they devoured, is forever 
renewed; nor can he fray them away with his great 
hands. 

There was Tantalus, plagued for his great sins, stand- 
ing up to his chin in water, which he can never taste, but 
still as he bows his head, thinking to quench his burning 
thirst, instead of water he licks up unsavory dust. All 
fruits pleasant to the sight, and of delicious flavor, hang 
in ripe clusters about his head, seeming as though they 
offered themselves to be plucked by him ; but when he 
reaches out his hand, some wind carries them far out of 
his sight into the clouds : so he is starved in the midst of 
plenty by the righteous doom of Jove, in memory of that 
inhuman banquet at which the sun turned pale, when the 
unnatural father served up the limbs of his little son in 
a dish, as meat for his divine guests. 

There was Sisyphus, that sees no end to his labors. 
His punishment is, to be forever rolling up a vast stone to 
the top of a mountain, which, when it gets to the top, 
falls down with a crushing weight, and all his work is to 
be begun again. He was bathed all over in sweat, that 
reeked out a smoke which covered his head like a mist. 
His crime had been the revealing of state secrets. 

There Ulysses saw Hercules — not that Hercules who 
enjoys immortal life in heaven among the gods, and is 
married to Hebe or Youth; but his shadow, which re- 
mains below. About him the dead flocked as thick as 
bats, hovering around, and cuffing at his head : he stands 
with his dreadful bow, ever in the act to shoot. 

Tityus (Tit'-i-us). Sisyphus (Sis'-i-phus). Hebe (He'be). 


80 


THE ADVENTURES 


There also might Ulysses have seen and spoken with 
the shades of Theseus, and Pirithous, and the old heroes; 
but he had conversed enough with horrors; therefore, 
covering his face with his hands, that he might see no 
more spectres, he resumed his seat in his ship, and pushed 
off. The bark moved of itself without the help of any 
oar, and soon brought him out of the regions of death 
into the cheerful quarters of the living, and to the island 
of Mdda,, whence he had set forth. 

Theseus (The'-seus). Pirithous (Pi-rith'-o-us). 


OF ULYSSES. 


31 


CHAPTER III. 

The Song of the Sirens. — Scylla and Charybdis. — The Oxen of the 
Sun. — The Judgment. — The Crew killed by Lightning. 

“TWNHAPPY man, who at thy birth wast appointed 
twice to die ! others shall die once ; but thou, be- 
sides that death that remains for thee, common to all men, 
hast in thy lifetime visited the shades of death. Thee 
Scylla, thee Charybdis, expect. Thee the deathful Sirens 
lie in wait for, that taint the minds of whoever listen to 
them with their sweet singing. Whosoever shall but hear 
the call of any Siren, he will so despise both wife and 
children through their sorceries that the stream of his 
affection never again shall set homewards, nor shall he 
take joy in wife or children thereafter, or they in him.” 

With these prophetic greetings great Circe met Ulysses 
on his return. He besought her to instruct him in the 
nature of the Sirens, and by what method their baneful 
allurements were to be resisted. 

“They are sisters three,” she replied, “that sit in a 
mead (by which your ship must needs pass) circled with 
dead men’s bones. These are the bones of men whom 
they have slain, after with fawning invitements they have 
enticed them into their fen. Yet such is the celestial 
harmony of their voice accompanying the persuasive 
magic of their words, that, knowing this, you shall not be 

Scylla (ScylMa). Charybdis (Ka-rib'-dis). 

Mead : a meadow. Fen : low-land, partly covered with water. 


32 


THE ADVENTURES 


able to withstand their enticements. Therefore, when 
you are to sail by them, you shall stop the ears of your 
companions with wax, that they may hear no note of that 
dangerous music; but for yourself, that you may hear, 
and yet live, give them strict command to bind you hand 
and foot to the mast, and in no case to set you free, till 
you are out of the danger of the temptation, though you 
should entreat it, and implore it ever so much, but to bind 
you rather the more for your requesting to be loosed. So 
shall you escape that snare.” 

Ulysses then prayed her that she would inform him 
what Scylla and Charybdis were, which she had taught 
him by name to fear. She replied : “ Sailing from iEsea to 
Trinacria, you must pass at an equal distance between two 
fatal rocks. Incline never so little 'either to the one side 
or the other, and your ship must meet with certain de- 
struction. No vessel ever yet tried that pass without 
being lost but the Argo, which owed her safety to the 
sacred freight she bore, the fleece of the golden-backed 
ram, which could not perish. The biggest of these rocks 
which you shall come to, Scylla hath in charge. There in 
a deep whirlpool at the foot of the rock the abhorred 
monster shrouds her face ; who if she were to show her 
full form, no eye of man or god could endure the sight : 
thence she stretches out all her six long necks, peering 
and diving to suck up fish, dolphins, dog-fish, and whales, 
whole ships, and their men, whatever comes within her 
raging gulf. The other rock is lesser, and of less ominous 
aspect; but there dreadful Charybdis sits, supping the 
black deeps. Thrice a day she drinks her pits dry, and 
thrice a day again she belches them all up ; but when she 
Trinacria (Tri-na'-cri-a). 


OF UFYSSES. 


33 


is drinking, come not nigh, for, being once caught, the 
force of Neptune cannot redeem you from her swallow. 
Better trust to Scylla, for she will but have for her six 
necks six men : Charybdis in her insatiate draught will 
ask all.” 

Then Ulysses inquired, in case he should escape Cha- 
rybdis, whether he might not assail that other monster with 
his sword ; to which she replied that he must not think 
that he had an enemy subject to death, or wounds, to con- 
tend with, for Scylla could never die. Therefore, his best 
safety was in flight, and to invoke none of the gods but 
Cratis, who is Scylla’s mother, and might perhaps forbid 
her daughter to devour them. For his conduct after he 
arrived at Trinacria she referred him to the admonitions 
which had been given him by Tiresias. 

Ulysses having communicated her instructions, as far as 
related to the Sirens, to his companions, who had not been 
present at that interview, but concealing from them the 
rest, as he had done the terrible predictions of Tiresias, 
that they might not be deterred by fear from pursuing 
their voyage — the time for departure being come, they 
set their sails, and took a final leave of great Circe ; who 
by her art calmed the heavens, and gave them smooth 
seas, and a right fore-wind (the seaman’s friend) to bear 
them on their way to Ithaca. 

They had not sailed past a hundred leagues before the 
breeze which Circe had lent them suddenly stopped. It 
was stricken dead. All the sea lay in prostrate slumber. 
Not a gasp of air could be felt. The ship stood still. 
Ulysses guessed that the island of the Sirens was not far 
off, and that they had charmed the air so with their dev- 

Fore-wind : i.e., a wind which would blow them forward. 


34 


THE AD VENTURES 


ilish singing. Therefore he made him cakes of wax, as 
Circe had instructed him, and stopped the ears of his men 
with them ; then causing himself to be bound hand and 
foot, he commanded the rowers to ply their oars and row 
•as fast as speed could carry them past that fatal shore. 
They soon came within sight of the Sirens, who sang in 
Ulysses’s hearing : — 

Come here, thou, worthy of a world of praise, 

That doth so high the Grecian glory raise ; 

Ulysses ! stay thy ship ; and that song hear 
That none pass’d ever, but it bent his ear, 

But left him ravish’d, and instructed more 
By us than any ever heard before. 

For we know all things, whatsoever were 
In wide Troy labor’d ; whatsoever there 
The Grecians and the Trojans both sustain’d, 

By those high issues that the gods ordain’d ; 

And whatsoever all the earth can show 
To inform a knowledge of desert, we know.* 

These were the words, but the celestial harmony of the 
voices which sang them no tongue can describe : it took 
the ear of Ulysses with ravishment. He would have 
broken his bonds to rush after them ; and threatened, wept, 
sued, entreated, commanded, crying out with tears and 
passionate imprecations, conjuring his men by all the ties 
of perils past which they had endured in common, by fel- 
lowship and love, and the authority which he retained 
among them, to let him loose ; but at no rate would they 
obey him. And still the Sirens sang. Ulysses made signs, 
motions, gestures, promising mountains of gold if they 
would set him free ; but their oars only moved faster. 
And still the Sirens sang. And still the more he adjured 
them to set him free, the faster with cords and ropes they 
* To impart well-merited knowledge. 


OF ULYSSES. 


35 


bound him ; till they were quite out of hearing of the 
Sirens’ notes, whose effect great Circe had so truly pre- 
dicted. And well she might speak of them, for often she 
had joined her own enchanting voice to theirs, while she 
. has sat in the flowery meads, mingled with the Sirens and 
the Water Nymphs, gathering their potent herbs and drugs 
of magic quality : their singing altogether has made the 
gods- stoop, and “ heaven drowsy with the harmony.” 

Escaped that peril, they had not sailed yet a hundred 
leagues farther, when they heard a roar afar off, which 
Ulysses knew to be the barking of Scylla’s dogs, which 
surround her waist, and bark incessantly. Coming nearer 
they beheld a smoke ascend, with a horrid murmur, which 
arose from that other whirlpool, to which they made nigher 
approaches than to Scylla. Through the furious eddy, 
which is in that place, the ship stood still as a stone, for 
there was no man to lend his hand to an oar, the dismal 
roar of Scylla’s dogs at a distance, and the nearer clamors 
of Charybdis, where everything made an echo, quite tak- 
ing from them the power of exertion. Ulysses went up 
and down encouraging his men, one by one, giving them 
good, words, telling them that they were in greater perils 
when they were blocked up in the Cyclop’s cave, yet, 
Heaven assisting his counsels, he had delivered them out 
of that extremity. That he could not believe but they 
remembered it ; and wished them to give the same trust to 
the same care which he had now for their welfare. That 
they must exert all the strength and wit which they had, 
and try if Jove would not grant them an escape even out 
of this peril. In particular, he cheered up the pilot who 
sat at the helm, and told him that he must show more 
firmness than other men, as he had more trust committed 


36 


THE ADVENTURES 


to him, and had the sole management by his skill of the 
vessel in which all their safeties were embarked. That a 
rock lay hid within those boiling whirlpools which he saw, 
on the outside of which he must steer, if he would avoid 
his own destruction and the destruction of them all. 

They heard him, and like men took to the oars ; but 
little knew what opposite danger, in shunning that rock, 
they must be thrown upon. For Ulysses had concealed 
from them the wounds, never to be healed, which Scylla 
was to open : their terror would else have robbed them all 
of all care to steer or move an oar, and have made them 
hide under the hatches for fear of seeing her, where he and 
they must have died an idle death. But even then he 
forgot the precautions which Circe had given him to pre- 
vent harm to his person, who had willed him not to arm, 
or show himself once to Scylla ; but disdaining not to ven- 
ture life for his brave companions, he could not contain, 
but armed in all points, and taking a lance in either hand, 
he went up to the fore-deck, and looked when Scylla 
would appear. 

She did not show herself as ypt, and still the vessel 
steered closer by her rock, as it sought to shun that other 
more dreaded; for they saw how horribly Charybdis’s 
black throat drew into her all the whirling deep, which 
she disgorged again, that all about her boiled like a kettle, 
and the rock roared with troubled waters ; which when 
she supped in again, all the bottom turned up, and dis- 
closed far under shore the swart sands naked, whose whole 
stern sight frayed the startled blood from their faces, and 
made Ulysses turn his to view the wonder of whirlpools. 
Which when Scylla saw, from out her black den she darted 

Swart : dark-colored, tawny. 


OF ULYSSES. 


37 


out her six long necks, and swooped up as many of his 
friends : whose cries Ulysses heard, and saw them too 
late, with their heels turned up, and their hands thrown 
to him for succor, who had been their help in all extremi- 
ties, but could not deliver them now ; and he heard them 
shriek out, as she tore them, and to the last they continued 
to throw their hands out to him for sweet life. In all h’is 
sufferings he never had beheld a sight so full of miseries. 

Escaped from Scylla and Charybdis, but with a dimin- 
ished crew, Ulysses and the sad remains of his followers 
reached the Trinacrian shore. Here landing, he beheld 
oxen grazing of such surpassing size and beauty that, both 
from them and from the shape of the island (having three 
promontories jutting into the sea), he judged rightly that 
he was come to the Triangular island and the oxen of the 
Sun, of which Tiresias had forewarned him. 

So great was his terror lest through his own fault, or 
that of his men, any violence or profanation should be 
offered to the holy oxen, that even then, tired as they were 
with the perils and fatigues of the day past, and unable to 
stir an oar, or use any exertion, and though night was fast 
coming on, he would have had them re-embark immediately, 
and make the best of their way from that dangerous sta- 
tion ; but his men with one voice resolutely opposed it, and 
even the too cautious Eurylochus himself withstood the 
proposal ; so much did the temptation of a little ease and 
refreshment (ease tenfold sweet after such labors) prevail 
over the sagest counsels, and the apprehension of certain 
evil outweigh the prospect of contingent danger. They 
expostulated that the nerves of Ulysses seemed to be made 
of steel, and his limbs not liable to lassitude like other 
men’s ; that waking or sleeping seemed indifferent to him ; 


38 


THE ADVENTURES 


I 

but that they were men, not gods, and felt the common 
appetites for food and sleep. That in the night-time all 
the winds most destructive to ships are generated. That 
black night still required to be served with meat, and 
sleep, and quiet havens, and ease. That the best sacrifice 
to the sea was in the morning. With such sailor-like say- 
ings and mutinous arguments, which the majority have 
always ready to justify disobedience to their betters, they 
forced Ulysses to comply with their requisition, and against 
his will to take ujd his night-quarters on shore. But he 
first exacted from them an oath that they would neither 
maim nor kill any of the cattle which they saw grazing, 
but content themselves with such food as Circe had stowed 
their vessel with when they parted from iEsea. This they 
man by man severally promised, imprecating the heaviest 
curses on whoever should break it ; and mooring their bark 
within a creek, they went to supper, contenting themselves 
that night with such food as Circe had given them, not 
without many sad thoughts of their friends whom Scylla 
had devoured, the grief of which kept them great part of 
the night waking. 

In the morning Ulysses urged them again to a religious 
observance of the oath that they had sworn, not in any 
case to attempt the blood of those fair herds which they 
saw grazing, but to content themselves with the ship’s 
food ; for the god who owned those cattle sees and hears 
all. 

They faithfully obeyed, and remained in that good mind 
for a month, during which they were confined to that sta- 
tion by contrary winds, till all the wine and the bread 
were gone which they had brought with them. When 
their victuals were gone, necessity compelled them to stray 


OF ULYSSES. 


39 


in quest of whatever fish or fowl they could snare, which 
that coast did not yield in any great abundance. Then 
Ulysses prayed to all the gods that dwelt in bountiful 
heaven, that they would be pleased to yield them some 
means to stay their hunger without having recourse to 
profane and forbidden violations ; but the ears of heaven 
seemed to be shut, or some god incensed plotted his ruin ; 
for at midday, when he should chiefly have been vigilant 
and watchful to prevent mischief, a deep sleep fell upon 
the eyes of Ulysses, during which he lay totally insensible 
of all that passed in the world, and what his friends or 
what his enemies might do for his welfare or destruction. 
Then Eurylochus took his advantage. He was the man 
of most authority w r ith them after Ulysses. He represented 
to them all the misery of their condition ; how that every 
death is hateful and grievous to mortality, but that of all 
deaths famine is attended with the most painful, loathsome, 
and humiliating circumstances ; that the subsistence which 
they could hope to draw from fowling or fishing was too 
precarious to be depended upon ; that there did not seem 
to be any chance of the winds changing to favor their 
escape, but that they must inevitably stay there and perish, 
if they let an irrational superstition deter them from the 
means which nature offered to their hands; that Ulysses 
might be deceived in his belief that these oxen had any 
sacred qualities above other oxen ; and even admitting 
that they were the property of the god of the Sun, as he 
said they were, the Sun did neither eat nor drink, and the 
gods were best served not by a scrupulous conscience, but 
by a thankful heart, which took freely what they as freely 
offered : with these and such like persuasions he prevailed 
on his half-famished and half-mutinous companions to be- 


40 


THE ADVENTURES 


gin the impious violation of their oath by the slaughter of 
seven of the fairest of these oxen which were grazing. 
Part they roasted and ate, and part they offered in sacri- 
fice to the gods, particularly to Apollo, god of the Sun, 
vowing to build a temple to his godhead when they should 
arrive in Ithaca, and deck it with magnificent and numer- 
ous gifts. Vain men ! and superstition worse than that 
which they so lately derided ! to imagine that prospective 
penitence can excuse a present violation of duty, and that 
the pure natures of the heavenly powers will admit of 
compromise or dispensation for sin. 

But to their feast they fell, dividing the roasted por- 
tions of the flesh, savory and pleasant meat to them, but a 
sad sight to the eyes, and a savor of death in the nostrils, 
of the waking Ulysses, who just woke in time to witness, 
but not soon enough to prevent, their rash and sacrilegious 
banquet. He had scarce time to ask what great mischief 
was this which they had done unto him ; when behold, a 
prodigy ! the ox-hides which they had stripped began to 
creep as if they had life ; and the roasted flesh bellowed 
as the ox used to do when he was living. The hair of 
Ulysses stood up on end with affright at these omens ; but 
his companions, like men whom the gods had infatuated 
to their destruction, persisted in their horrible banquet. 

The Sun from his burning chariot saw how Ulysses’s 
men had slain his oxen, and he cried to his father Jove, 
“ Revenge me upon these impious men who have slain my 
oxen, which it did me good to look upon when I walked 
my heavenly round. In all my daily course I never saw 
such bright and beautiful creatures as those my oxen 
were.” The father promised that ample retribution should 
be taken of those accursed men : which was fulfilled shortly 
after, when they took their leaves of the fatal island. 


OF ULYSSES. 


41 


Six days they feasted in spite of the signs of heaven, 
and on the seventh, the wind changing, they set their sails 
and left the island ; and their hearts were cheerful with 
the banquets they had held ; all but the heart of Ulysses, 
which sank within him, as with wet eyes he beheld his 
friends, and gave them for lost, as men devoted to divine 
vengeance. Which soon overtook them ; for they had not 
gone many leagues before a dreadful tempest arose, which 
burst their cables ; down came their mast, crushing the 
skull of the pilot in its fall ; off he fell from the stern into 
the water, and the bark wanting his management drove 
along at the wind’s mercy ; thunders roared, and terrible 
lightnings of Jove came down; first a bolt struck Eury- 
lochus, then another, and then another, till all the crew 
were killed, and their bodies swam about like sea-mews ; 
and the ship was split in pieces. Only Ulysses survived ; 
and he had no hope of safety but in tying himself to the 
mast, where he sat riding upon the waves, like one that 
in no extremity would yield to fortune. Nine days was 
he floating about with all the motions of the sea, with no 
other support than the slender mast under him, till the 
tenth night cast him, all spent and weary with toil, upon 
the friendly shores of the island Ogygia. 

Sea-mews: sea-gulls. Ogygia (O-g^g'-i-a). 


42 


THE ADVENTURES 


CHAPTER IV. 

The Island of Calypso. — Immortality refused. 

H ENCEFORTH the adventures of the single Ulysses 
must be pursued. Of all those faithful partakers 
of his toil, who with him left Asia, laden with the spoils of 
Troy, now not one remains, but all a prey to the remorse- 
less waves, and food for some great fish; their gallant 
navy reduced to one ship, and that finally swallowed up 
and lost. Where now are all their anxious thoughts of 
home ? that perseverance with which they went through 
the severest sufferings and the hardest labors to which 
poor seafarers were ever exposed, that their toils at last 
might be crowned with the sight of their native shores 
and wives at Ithaca ! Ulysses is now in the isle Ogygia, 
called the Delightful Island. The poor shipwrecked chief, 
the slave of all the elements, is once again raised by the 
caprice of fortune into a shadow of prosperity. He that 
was cast naked upon the shore, bereft of all his compan- 
ions, has now a goddess to attend upon him, and his com- 
panions are the nymphs which never die. Who has not 
heard of Calypso? her grove crowned with alders and 
poplars ; her grotto, against which the luxuriant vine laid 
forth his purple grapes; her ever new delights, crystal 
fountains, running brooks, meadows flowering with sweet 
balm-gentle and with violet ; blue violets which like veins 
enamelled the smooth breasts of each fragrant mead ! It 
were useless to describe over again what has been so well 
Balm-gentle : balm-mint, a fragrant herb. 


OF ULYSSES. 


43 


told already ; or to relate those soft arts of courtship which 
the goddess used to detain Ulysses; the same in kind 
which she afterwards practised upon his less wary son, 
whom Minerva, in the shape of Mentor, hardly preserved 
from her snares, when they came to the Delightful Island 
together in search of the scarce departed Ulysses. 

A memorable example of married love, and a worthy 
instance how dear to every good man his country is, 
was exhibited by Ulysses. If Circe loved him sincerely, 
Calypso loves him with tenfold more warmth and passion : 
she can deny him nothing, but his departure ; she offers 
him everything, even to a participation of her immortality 
— if he will stay and share in her pleasures, he shall never 
die. But death with glory has greater charms for a mind 
heroic than a life that shall never die with shame ; and 
when he pledged his vows to his Penelope, they had sworn 
to live and grow old together ; and he would not survive 
her if he could, nor meanly share in immortality itself, 
from which she was excluded. 

These thoughts kept him pensive and melancholy in the 
midst of pleasure. His heart was on the seas, making 
voyages to Ithaca. Twelve months had worn away, when 
Minerva from heaven saw her favorite, how he sat still 
pining on the sea-shores (his daily custom), wishing for 
a ship to carry him home. She (who is wisdom herself) 
was indignant that so wise and brave a man as Ulysses 
should be held in effeminate bondage by an unworthy 
goddess; and at her request her father Jove ordered 
Mercury to go down to the earth to command Calypso to 
dismiss her guest. The divine messenger tied fast to his 
feet his winged shoes, which bear him over land and seas, 
and took in his hand his golden rod, the ensign of his 


44 


THE ADVENTURES 


authority. Then wheeling in many an airy round, he 
stayed not till he alighted on the firm top of the mountain 
Pieria; thence he fetched a second circuit over the seas, 
kissing the waves in his flight with his feet, as light as 
any sea-mew fishing dips her wings, till he touched the 
isle Ogygia, and soared up from the blue sea to the grotto 
of the goddess to whom his errand was ordained. 

His message struck a horror, checked by love, through 
all the faculties of Calypso. She replied to it, incensed : 
“You gods are insatiate, past all that live, in all things 
which you affect ; which makes you so envious and grudg- 
ing. It afflicts you to the heart when any goddess seeks 
the love of a mortal man in marriage. And now you 
envy me the possession of a wretched man whom tempests 
have cast upon my shores, making him lawfully mine ; 
whose ship Jove rent in pieces with his hot thunderbolts, 
killing all his friends. Him I have preserved, loved, 
nourished; made him mine by protection, my creature; 
by every tie of gratitude, mine ; have vowed to make him 
deathless like myself; him you will take from me. But 
I know your power, and that it is vain for me to resist. 
Tell your king that I obey his mandates.” 

With an ill grace Calypso promised to fulfil the com- 
mands of Jove ; and, Mercury departing, she went to 
find Ulysses, where he sat outside the grotto, not know- 
ing of the heavenly message, drowned in discontent, not 
seeing any human probability of his ever returning home. 

She said to him: “Unhappy man, no longer afflict 
yourself with pining after your country, but build you a 
ship, with which you may return home, since it is the 
will of the gods ; who, doubtless, as they are greater in 
Pieria (Pi-e'-ri-a). 






OF ULYSSES. 45 

power than I, are greater in skill, and best can tell what 
is fittest for man. But I call the gods and my inward 
conscience to witness that I had no thought but what 
stood with thy safety, nor would have done or counselled 
anything against thy good. I persuaded tliee to nothing 
which I should not have followed myself in thy extremity ; 
for my mind is innocent and simple. O, if thou knewest 
what dreadful sufferings thou must yet endure before 
ever thou reachest thy native land, thou wouldest not 
esteem so hardly of a goddess’s offer to share her immor- 
tality with thee ; nor, for a few years’ enjoyment of a 
perishing Penelope, refuse an imperishable and never- 
dying life with Calypso.” 

He replied: “Ever-honored, great Calypso, let it not 
displease thee, that I a mortal man desire to see and con- 
verse again with a wife that is mortal: human objects 
are best fitted to human infirmities. I well know how 
far in wisdom, in feature, in stature, proportion, beauty, 
in all the gifts of the mind, thou exceedest my Penelope : 
she is a mortal, and subject to decay; thou immortal, 
ever growing, yet never old; yet in her sight all my de- 
sires terminate, all my wishes — in the sight of her, and 
of my country earth. If any god, envious of my return, 
shall lay his dreadful hand upon me as I pass the seas, I 
submit ; for the same powers have given me a mind not 
to sink under oppression. In wars and waves my suffer- 
ings have not been small.” 

She heard his pleaded reasons, and of force she must 
assent; so to her nymphs she gave in charge from her 
sacred woods to cut down timber, to make Ulysses a ship. 
They obeyed, though in a work unsuitable to their soft 
fingers, yet to obedience no sacrifice is hard; and Ulysses 


46 


THE ADVENTURES 


busily bestirred himself, laboring far more hard than they, 
as was fitting, till twenty tall trees, driest and fittest for 
timber, were felled. Then, like a skilful shipwright, he 
fell to joining the planks, using the plane, the axe, and 
the auger with such expedition that in four days’ time a 
ship was made, complete with all her decks, hatches, side- 
boards, yards. Calypso added linen for the sails, and 
tackling; and when she was finished, she was a goodly 
vessel for a man to sail in, alone or in company, over the 
wide seas. By the fifth morning she was launched ; and 
Ulysses, furnished with store of provisions, rich garments, 
and gold and silver, given him by Calypso, took a last 
leave of her and of her nymphs, and of the isle Ogygia 
which had so befriended him. 


OF ULYSSES. 


47 


CHAPTER Y. 


The Tempest. — The Sea-bird’s Gift. — The Escape by Swimming. — 
The Sleep in the Woods. 



T the stern of his solitary ship Ulysses sat, and 


ATjl_ steered right artfully. No sleep could seize his eye- 
lids. He beheld the Pleiads, the Bear, which is by some 
called the Wain, that moves round about Orion, and keeps 
still above the ocean, and the slow-setting sign Bootes, 
which some name the Wagoner. Seventeen days he held 
his course, and on the eighteenth the coast of Phseacia was 
in sight. The figure of the land, as seen from the sea, was 
pretty and circular, and looked something like a shield. 

Neptune, returning from visiting his favorite ^Ethiopians, 
from the mountains of the Solymi, descried Ulysses plough- 
ing the waves, his domain. The sight of the man he so 
much hated for Polyphemus’s sake, his son, whose eye 
Ulysses had put out, set the god’s heart on fire; and 
snatching into his hand his horrid sea-sceptre, the trident 
of his power, he smote the air and the sea, and conjured 
up all his black storms, calling down night from the cope 
of heaven, and taking the earth into the sea, as it seemed, 
with clouds, through the darkness and indistinctness which 
prevailed ; the billows rolling up before the fury of all the 
winds, that contended together in their mighty sport. 

Pleiads (Pleiads or Ple-ads) : the constellation of the Pleiades 
(Plei'-a-des or Ple'a-des). 

Wain : a northern constellation, called also the “ Great Dipper.” 

Bootes (Bo-o'-tes) : a northern constellation near the Wain. 

Pliaiacia (Phe-a'-ci-a). 


48 


THE ADVENTURES 


Then the knees of Ulysses bent with fear, and then all 
his spirit was spent, and he wished that he had been 
among the number of his countrymen who fell before 
Troy, and had their funerals celebrated by all the Greeks, 
rather than to perish thus, where no man could mourn 
him or know him. 

As he thought these melancholy thoughts, a huge wave 
took him and washed him overboard, ship and all upset 
amidst the billows, he struggling afar off, clinging to her 
stern broken off which he yet held, her mast cracking in 
two with the fury of that gust of mixed winds that struck 
it, sails and sail-yards fell into The deep, and he himself 
was long drowned under water, nor could get his head 
above, wave so met with wave, as if they strove which 
should depress him most; and the gorgeous garments 
given him by Calypso clung about him, and hindered his 
swimming ; yet neither for this, nor for the overthrow of 
his ship, nor his own perilous condition, would he give up 
his drenched vessel ; but, wrestling with Neptune, got at 
length hold of her again, and then sat in her hull, insulting 
over death, which he had escaped, and the salt waves 
which he gave the seas again to give to other men ; his 
ship, striving to live, floated at random, cuffed from wave 
to wave, hurled to and fro by all the winds : now Boreas 
tossed it to Notus, Notus passed it to Eurus, and Eurus to 
the West Wind, who kept up the horrid tennis. 

Them in their mad sport Ino Leucothea beheld — Ino 
Leucothea, now a sea-goddess, but once a mortal and the 
daughter of Cadmus ; she with pity beheld Ulysses the 
mark of their fierce contention, and rising from the waves 
alighted on the ship, in shape like to the sea-bird which is 
Leucothea (Leu-coth'-g-a). 


OF ULYSSES. 


49 


called a cormorant ; and in her beak she held a wonderful 
girdle made of sea-weeds, which grow at the bottom of the 
ocean, which she dropped at his feet; and the bird spake 
to Ulysses, and counselled him not to trust any more to 
that fatal vessel against which god Neptune had levelled 
his furious wrath, nor to those ill-befriending garments 
which Calypso had given him, but to quit both it and 
them, and trust for his safety to swimming. “ And here,” 
said the seeming bird, “ take this girdle and tie about your 
middle, which has virtue to protect the wearer at sea, and 
you shall safely reach the shore; but when you have 
landed, cast it far from you back into the sea.” He did 
as the sea-bird instructed him ; he stripped himself naked, 
and, fastening the wondrous girdle about his middle, cast 
himself into the seas to swim. The bird dived past his 
sight into the fathomless abyss of the ocean. 

Two days and two nights he spent in struggling with 
the waves, though sore buffeted, and almost spent, never 
giving up himself for lost, such confidence he had in that 
charm which he wore about his middle, and in the words 
of that divine bird. But the third morning the winds 
grew calm and all the heavens were clear. Then he saw 
himself nigh land, which he knew to be the coast of the 
Phmacians, a people good to strangers and abounding in 
ships, by whose favor he doubted not that he should obtain 
a passage to his own country. And such joy he conceived 
in his heart as good sons have that esteem their father’s 
life dear, when long sickness has held him down to his 
bed and wasted his body, and they see at length health 
return to the old man, with restored strength and spirits, 
in reward of their many prayers to the gods for his 
safety: so precious was the prospect of home-return to 


50 


THE ADVENTURES 


Ulysses, that he might restore health to his country (his 
better parent), that had long languished as full of distem- 
pers in his absence. And then for his own safety’s sake 
he had joy to see the shores, the woods, so nigh and within 
his grasp as they seemed, and he labored with all the 
might of hands and feet to reach with swimming that nigh- 
seeming land. 

But when he approached near, a horrid sound of a huge 
sea beating against rocks informed him that here was no 
place for landing, nor any harbor for man’s resort, but 
through the weeds and the foam which the sea belched up 
against the land he could dimly discover the rugged shore 
all bristled with flints, and all that part of the coast one 
impending rock that seemed impossible to climb, and the 
water all about so deep that not a sand was there for any 
tired foot to rest upon, and every moment he feared lest 
some wave more cruel than the rest should crush him 
against a cliff, rendering worse than vain all his landing ; 
and should he swim to seek a more commodious haven 
farther on, he was fearful lest, weak and spent as he was, 
the winds would force him back a long way off into the 
main, where the terrible god Neptune, for wrath that he 
had so nearly escaped his power, having gotten him again 
into his domain, would send out some great whale (of 
which those seas breed a horrid number) to swallow him 
up alive ; with such malignity he still pursued him. 

While these thoughts distracted him with diversity of 
dangers, one bigger wave drove against a sharp rock his 
naked body, which it gashed and tore, and wanted little 
of breaking all his bones, so rude was the shock. But in 
this extremity she prompted him that never failed him at 
need. Minerva (who is wisdom itself) put it into his 


OF ULYSSES. 


51 


thoughts no longer to keep swimming off and on, as one 
dallying with danger, but boldly to force the shore that 
threatened him, and to hug the rock that had torn him so 
rudely ; 'which with both hands he clasped, wrestling with 
extremity, till the rage of that billow which had driven 
him upon it was passed ; but then again the rock drove 
back that wave so furiously that it reft him of his hold, 
sucking him with it in its return ; and the sharp rock, his 
cruel friend, to which he clung for succor, rent the flesh so 
sore from his hands in parting that he fell off, and could 
sustain no longer; quite under water he fell, and, past the 
help of fate, there had the hapless Ulysses lost all portion 
that he had in this life, if Minerva had not prompted his 
wisdom in that peril to essay another course, and to ex- 
plore some other shelter, ceasing to attempt that landing- 
place. 

She guided his wearied and nigh-exhausted limbs to the 
mouth of the fair river Callicoe, which not far from thence 
disbursed its watery tribute to the ocean. Here the shores 
were easy and accessible, and the rocks, which rather 
adorned than defended its banks, so smooth that they 
seemed polished of purpose to invite the landing of our 
sea-wanderer, and to atone for the uncourteous treatment 
which those less hospitable cliffs had afforded him. And 
the god of the river, as if in pity, stayed his current, and 
smoothed his waters, to make his landing more easy ; for 
sacred to the ever-living deities of the fresh waters, be 
they mountain-stream, river, or lake, is the cry of erring 
mortals that seek their aid, by reason that, being inland- 
bred, they partake more of the gentle humanities of our 
nature than those marine deities whom Neptune trains up 
in tempests in the unpitying recesses of his salt abyss. 

Callicoe (C&l-lik'-o-S). 


52 


THE ADVENTUEES 


So by the favor of the river’s god Ulysses crept to land 
half-drowned ; both liis knees faltering, his strong hands 
falling down through weakness from the excessive toils he 
had endured, his cheeks and nostrils, flowing with froth of 
the sea-brine, much of which he had swallowed in that con- 
flict, voice and breath spent, down he sank as in death. 
Dead weary he was. It seemed that the sea had soaked 
through his heart, and the pains he felt in all his veins 
were little less than those which one feels that has endured 
the torture of the rack. But when his spirits came a little 
to themselves, and his recollection by degrees began to 
return, he rose up, and unloosing from his waist the girdle 
or charm which that divine bird had given him, and re- 
membering the charge which he had received with it, he 
flung it far from him into the river. Back it swam with 
the course of the ebbing stream till it reached the sea, 
where the fair hands of Ino Leucothea received it to keep 
it as a pledge of safety to any future shipwrecked mariner 
that, like Ulysses, should wander in those perilous waves. 

Then he kissed the humble earth in token of safety, and 
on he went by the side of that pleasant river, till he came 
where a thicker shade of rushes that grew on its banks 
seemed to point out the place where he might rest his sea- 
wearied limbs. And here a fresh perplexity divided his 
mind, whether he should pass the night, which was coming 
on, in that place, where, though he feared no other enemies, 
the damps and frosts of the chill ^la-air in that exposed 
situation might be death to him in his weak state; or 
whether he had better climb the next hill, and pierce the 
depth of some shady wood, in which he might find a warm 
and sheltered though insecure repose, subject to the ap- 
proach of any wild beast that roamed that way. Best did 


OF ULYSSES. 


53 


this last course appear to him, though with some clanger, 
as that which was more honorable and savored more of 
strife and self-exertion than to perish without a struggle 
the passive victim of cold and the elements. 

So he bent his course to the nearest woods, where, 
entering in, he found a thicket, mostly of wild olives 
and such low trees, yet growing so intertwined and 
knit together that the moist wind had not leave to play 
through their branches, nor the sun’s scorching beams 
to pierce their recesses, nor any shower to beat through, 
they grew so thick, and as it were folded each in the 
other; here creeping in, he made his bed of the leaves 

which were beginning to fall, of which was such 

abundance that two or three men might have spread 
them ample coverings, such as might shield them from 
the winter’s rage, though the air breathed steel and 
blew as it would burst. Here creeping in, he heaped 
up store of leaves all about him, as a man would billets 
upon a winter fire, and lay down in the midst. Rich 

seed of virtue lying hid in poor leaves ! Here Minerva 

soon gave him sound sleep; and here all his long toils 
past seemed to be concluded and shut up within the 
little sphere of his refreshed and closed eyelids. 


54 


THE ADVENTUKES 


CHAPTER VI. 

The Princess Nausicaa. — The Washing. — The Game with the Ball. 
— The Court of Phaeacia and King Alcinous. 

M EANTIME Minerva, designing an interview be- 
tween the king’s daughter of that country and 
Ulysses when he should awake, went by night to the 
palace of king Alcinous, and stood at the bedside of 
the princess Nausicaa in the shape of one of her 
favorite attendants, and thus addressed the sleeping 
princess ; 

“Nausicaa, why do you lie sleeping here, and never 
bestow a thought upon your bridal ornaments, of which 
you have many and beautiful, laid up in your wardrobe 
against the day of your marriage, which cannot be far 
distant; when you shall have need of all, not only to 
deck your own person, but to give away in presents to 
the virgins that honoring you shall attend you to the 
temple? Your reputation stands much upon the timely 
care of these things; these things are they which fill 
father and reverend mother with delight. Let us arise 
betimes to wash your fair vestments of linen and silks 
in the river; and request your sire to lend you mules 
and a coach, for your wardrobe is heavy, and the place 
where we must wash is distant, and besides it fits not 
a great princess like you to go so far on foot.” 

So saying, she went away, and Nausicaa awoke, full 

Nausicaa (Nau-sik Alcinous ( Al-cin'-o-us). 


OF ULYSSES. 


55 


of pleasing thoughts of her marriage, which the dream 
had told her was not far distant; and as soon as it was 
dawn she arose and dressed herself, and went to find 
her parents. 

The queen her mother was already up, and seated 
among her maids, spinning at her wheel, as the fashion 
was in those primitive times, when great ladies did not 
disdain housewifery : and the king her father was pre- 
paring to go abroad at that early hour to council with 
his grave senate. 

“My father,” she said, “will you not order mules and 
a coach to be got ready, that I may go and wash, I and 
my maids, at the cisterns that stand without the city?” 

“What washing does my daughter speak of?” said 
Alcinous. 

“Mine and my brothers’ garments,” she replied, “ that 
have contracted soil by this time with lying by so long 
in the wardrobe. Five sons have you that are my 
brothers ; two of them are married, and three are bache- 
lors ; these last it concerns to have their garments 
neat and unsoiled ; it may advance their fortunes 
in marriage : and who but I their sister should have a 
care of these things? You yourself, my father, have 
need of the whitest apparel when you go, as now, to 
the council.” 

She used this plea, modestly dissembling her care of 
her own nuptials to her father ; who was not displeased 
at this instance of his daughter’s discretion; for a 
seasonable care about marriage may be permitted to 
a young maiden, provided it be accompanied with 
modesty and dutiful submission to her parents in the 
choice of her future husband ; and there was no fear of 


56 


THE ADVENTURES 


Nausicaa choosing wrongly or improperly, for she was as 
wise as she was beautiful, and the best in all Phseacia 
were suitors to her for her love. So Alcinous readily 
gave consent that she should go, ordering mules and a 
coach to be prepared. And Nausicaa brought from her 
chamber all her vestments, and laid them up in the 
coach, and her mother placed bread and wine in the 
coach, and oil in a golden cruse, to soften the bright 
skins of Nausicaa and her maids when they came out of 
the river. 

Nausicaa, making her maids get up into the coach with 
her, lashed the mules, till they brought her to the cisterns 
which stood a little on the outside of the town, and were 
supplied with water from the river Callicoe. 

There her attendants unyoked the mules, took out the 
clothes, and steeped them in the cisterns, washing them 
in several waters, and afterwards treading them clean with 
their feet, venturing wagers who should have done soonest 
and cleanest, and using many pretty pastimes to beguile 
their labors as young maids use, while the princess looked 
on. When they had laid their clothes to dry, they fell to 
playing again, and Nausicaa joined them in a game with 
the ball, which is used in that country, which is performed 
by tossing the ball from hand to hand with great expedi- 
tion, she who begins the pastime singing a song. It 
chanced that the princess, whose turn it became to toss 
the ball, sent it so far from its mark that it fell beyond 
into one of the cisterns of the river ; at which the whole 
company, in merry consternation, set up a shriek so loud 
as waked the sleeping Ulysses, who was taking his rest 
after his long toils in the woods not far distant from the 
place where these young maids had come to wash. 


OF ULYSSES. 


5T 


At the sound of female voices Ulysses crept forth from 
his retirement, making himself a covering with boughs and 
leaves as well as he could to shroud his nakedness. The 
sudden appearance of his weather-beaten and almost naked 
form so frightened the maidens that they scudded away 
into the woods and all about to hide themselves, only 
Minerva (who had brought about this interview to admi- 
rable purposes, by seemingly accidental means) put cour- 
age into the breast of Nausicaa, and she stayed where she 
was, and resolved to know what manner of man he was, 
and what was the occasion of his strange coming to them. 

He not venturing (for delicacy) to approach and clasp 
her knees, as suppliants should, but standing far off, ad- 
dressed this speech to the young princess : 

“ Before I presume rudely to press my petitions, I should 
first ask whether I am addressing a mortal woman, or one 
of the goddesses. If a goddess, you seem to me to be 
likest to Diana, the chaste huntress, the daughter of Jove. 
Like hers are your lineaments, your stature, your features, 
and air divine.” 

She making answer that she was no goddess, but a mor- 
tal maid, he continued : 

“If a woman, thrice blessed are both the authors of 
your birth, thrice blessed are your brothers, who even to 
rapture must have joy in your perfections, to see you 
grown so like a young tree, and so graceful. But most 
blessed of all that breathe is he that has the gift to engage 
your young neck in the yoke of marriage. I never saw 
that man that was worthy of you. I never saw man or 
woman that at all parts equalled you. Lately at Delos 
(where I touched) I saw a young palm which grew beside 

Diana (Di-an'-a or Di-a'-na). 


58 


THE ADVENTUKES 


Apollo’s temple; it exceeded all the trees which ever I 
beheld for straightness and beauty: I can compare you 
only to that. A stupor past admiration strikes me, joined 
with fear, which keeps me back from approaching you, to 
embrace your knees. Nor is it strange; for one of fresh- 
est and firmest spirit would falter, approaching near to so 
bright an object: but I am one whom a cruel habit of 
calamity has prepared to receive strong impressions. 
Twenty days the unrelenting seas have tossed me up and 
down coming from Ogygia, and at length cast me ship- 
wrecked last night upon your coast. I have seen no man 
or woman since I landed but yourself. All that I crave 
is clothes, which you may spare me, and to be shown the 
way to some neighboring town. The gods, who have care 
of strangers, will requite you for these courtesies.” 

She, admiring to hear such complimentary words pro- 
ceed out of the mouth of one whose outside looked so 
rough and unpromising, made answer : “ Stranger, I dis- 
cern neither sloth nor folly in you, and yet I see that you 
are poor and wretched : from which I gather that neither 
wisdom nor industry can secure felicity; only Jove be- 
stows it upon whomsoever he pleases. He perhaps has re- 
duced you to this plight. However, since your wanderings 
have brought you so near to our city, it lies in our duty 
to supply your wants. Clothes and what else a human 
hand should give to one so suppliant, and so tamed with 
calamity, you shall not want. We will show you our 
city and tell you the name- of our people. This is the 
land of the Phseacians, of which my father, Alcinous, is 
king. 

Then calling her attendants, who had dispersed on the 

Admiring : wondering. 


OF ULYSSES. 


59 


first sight of Ulysses, she rebuked them Jor their fear, and 
said : “ This man is no Cyclop, nor monster of sea or land, 
that you should fear him ; but he seems manly, staid, and 
discreet, and though decayed in his outward appearance, 
yet he has the mind’s riches, wit and fortitude, in abun- 
dance. Show him the cisterns, where he may wash him 
from the sea-weeds and foam that hang about him, and 
let him have garments that fit him, out of those which 
we have brought with us to the cisterns.” 

Ulysses, retiring a little out of sight, cleansed him in 
the cisterns from the soil and impurities with which the 
rocks and waves had covered all his body, and clothing 
himself with befitting raiment, which the princess’s atten- 
dants had given him, he presented himself in more worthy 
shape to Nausicaa. She admired to see what a comely 
personage he was, now he was dressed in all parts; she 
thought him some king or hero : and secretly wished that 
the gods would be pleased to give her such a husband. 

Then causing her attendants to yoke her mules, and lay 
up the vestments, which the sun’s heat had sufficiently 
dried, in the coach, she ascended with her maids, and 
drove off to the palace ; bidding Ulysses, as she departed, 
keep an eye upon the coach, and to follow it on foot at 
some distance : which she did, because if she had suf- 
fered him to ride in the coach with her, it might have 
subjected her to some misconstructions of the common 
people, who are always ready to vilify and censure their 
betters, and to suspect that charity is not always pure 
charity, but that love or some sinister intention lies hid 
under its disguise. So discreet and attentive to appear- 
ance in all her actions was this admirable princess. 

Ulysses as he entered the city wondered to see its mag- 


60 


THE ADVENTURES 


nificence, its markets, buildings, temples; its walls and 
ramparts ; its trade, and resort of men ; its harbors for 
shipping, which is the strength of the Phseacian state. 
But when he approached the palace, and beheld its riches, 
the proportion of its architecture, its avenues, gardens, 
statues, fountains, he stood rapt in admiration, and 
almost forgot his own condition in surveying the flour- 
ishing estate of others; but recollecting himself, he passed 
on boldly into the inner apartment, where the king and 
queen were sitting at dinner with their peers, Nausicaa 
having prepared them for his approach. 

To them humbly kneeling, he made it his request that, 
since fortune had cast him naked upon their shores, they 
would take him into their protection, and grant him a 
conveyance by one of the ships of which their great 
Phseacian state had such good store, to carry him to his 
own country. Having delivered his request, to grace it 
with more humility he went and sat himself down upon 
the hearth among the ashes, as the custom was in those 
days when any would make a petition to the throne. 

He seemed a petitioner of so great state and of so 
superior a deportment that Alcinous himself arose to do 
him honor, and causing him to leave that abject station 
which he had assumed, placed him next to his throne, 
upon a chair of state, and thus he spake to his peers : 

“Lords and councillors of Phseacia, ye see this man, 
who he is we know not, that is come to us in the guise of 
a petitioner : he seems no mean one ; but whoever he is, 
it is fit, since the gods have cast him upon our protection, 
that we grant him the rites of hospitality while he stays 
with us, and at his departure a ship well manned to con- 
vey so worthy a personage as he seems to be, in a manner 
suitable to his rank, to his own country.” 


OF ULYSSES. 


61 


This counsel the peers with one consent approved ; and 
wine and meat being set before Ulysses, he ate and drank, 
and gave the gods thanks who had stirred up the royal 
bounty of Alcinous to aid him in that extremity. But 
not as yet did he reveal to the king and queen who he 
was, or whence he had come ; only in brief terms he 
related his being cast upon their shores, his sleep in the 
woods, and his meeting with the princess Nausicaa, whose 
generosity, mingled with discretion, filled her parents with 
delight, as Ulysses in eloquent phrases adorned and com- 
mended her virtues. But Alcinous, humanely consider- 
ing that the troubles which his guest had undergone 
required rest, as well as refreshment by food, dismissed 
him early in the evening to his chamber; where in a 
magnificent apartment Ulysses found a smoother bed, but 
not a sounder repose, than he had enjoyed the night be- 
fore, sleeping upon leaves which he had scraped together 
in his necessity. 


62 


THE ADVENTURES 


CHAPTER VII. 


The Songs of Demodocus. — The Convoy Home. — The Mariners 
transformed to Stone. — The Young Shepherd. 

HEN it was daylight, Alcinous caused it to be pro- 



V V claimed by the heralds about the town that there 
was come to the palace a stranger, shipwrecked on their 
coast, that in mien and person resembled a god; and 
inviting all the chief people of the city to come and do 
honor to the stranger. 

The palace was quickly filled with guests, old and 
young, for whose cheer, and to grace Ulysses more, Alcin- 
ous made a kingly feast with ban que tings and music. 
Then, Ulysses being seated at a table next the king and 
queen, in all men’s view, after they had feasted Alcinous 
ordered Demodocus, the court-singer, to be called to sing 
some song of the deeds of heroes, to charm the ear of his 
guest. * Demodocus came and reached his harp, where it 
hung between two pillars of silver; and then the blind 
singer, to whom, in recompense of his lost sight, the muses 
had given an inward discernment, a soul and a voice to 
excite the hearts of men and gods to delight, began in 
grave and solemn strains to sing the glories of men highli- 
est famed. He chose a poem whose subject was The Stern 
Strife stirred up between Ulysses and Great Achilles, as 
at a banquet sacred to the gods, in dreadful language, 
they expressed their difference; while Agamemnon sat 


Demodocus (De-mod'-o-cus). 


OF ULYSSES. 


63 


rejoiced in soul to hear those Grecians jar ; for the oracle 
in Pytho had told him that the period of their wars in 
Troy should then be, when the kings of Greece, anxious 
to arrive at the wished conclusion, should fall to strife, 
and contend which must end the war, force or stratagem. 

This brave contention he expressed so to the life, in 
the very words which they both used in the quarrel, as 
brought tears into the eyes of Ulysses at the remembrance 
of past passages of his life, and he held his large purple 
weed before his face to conceal it. Then craving a cup 
of wine, he poured it out in secret libation to the gods, 
who had put into the mind of Demodocus unknowingly 
to do him so much honor. But when the moving poet 
began to tell of other occurrences where Ulysses had been 
present, the memory of his brave followers who had been 
with him in all difficulties, now swallowed up and lost in 
the ocean, and of those kings that had fought with him at 
Troy, some of whom were dead, some exiles like himself, 
forced itself so strongly upon his mind that forgetful where 
he was he sobbed outright with passion: which yet he 
restrained, but not so cunningly but Alcinous perceived 
it, and without taking notice of it to Ulysses, privately 
gave signs that Demodocus should cease from his singing. 

Next followed dancing in the Phaeacian fashion, when 
they would show respect to their guests; which was 
succeeded by trials of skill, games of strength, running, 
racing, hurling of the quoit, mock fights, hurling of the 
javelin, shooting with the bow : in some of which Ulysses 
modestly challenging his entertainers, performed such 
feats of strength and prowess as gave the admiring Phaea- 
cians fresh reason to imagine that he was either some god, 
or hero of the race of the gods. 

Weed : an outer garment. 


64 


THE ADVENTURES 


These solemn shows and pageants in honor of his guest 
king Alcinous continued for the space of many days, as 
if he could never be weary of showing courtesies to so 
worthy a stranger. In all this time he never asked him 
his name, nor sought to know more of him than he of his 
own accord disclosed ; till on a day as they were seated 
feasting, after the feast was ended, Demodocus being 
called, as was the custom, to sing some grave matter, sang 
how Ulysses, on that night when Troy was fired, made 
dreadful proof of his valor, maintaining singly a combat 
against the whole household of Deiphobus, to which the 
divine expresser gave both act and passion, and breathed 
such a fire into Ulysses’s deeds that it inspired old death 
with life in the lively expressing of slaughters, and ren- 
dered life so sweet and passionate in the hearers that all 
who heard, felt it fleet from them in the narration : which 
made Ulysses even pity his own slaughterous deeds, ana 
feel touches of remorse, to see how song can revive a dead 
man from the grave, yet no way can it defend a living 
man from death; and in imagination he underwent some 
part of death’s horrors, and felt in his living body a taste 
of those dying pangs which he had dealt to others; that 
with the strong conceit, tears (the true interpreters of 
unutterable emotion) stood' in his eyes. 

Which king Alcinous noting, and that this was now 
the second time that he had perceived him to be moved at 
the mention of events touching the Trojan wars, he took 
occasion to ask whether his guest had lost any friend or 
kinsman at Troy, that Demodocus’s singing had brought 
into his mind. Then Ulysses, drying the tears with his 
cloak, and observing that the eyes of all the company were 
Deiphobus (De-iph'-o-bus). Conceit : fancy. 


OF ULYSSES. 


65 


upon him, desirous to give them satisfaction in what he 
could, and thinking this a fit time to reveal his true name 
and destination, spake as follows : 

“ The courtesies which ye all have shown me, and in par- 
ticular yourself and princely daughter, O king Alcinous, 
demand from me that I should no longer keep you in igno- 
rance of what or who I am ; for to reserve any secret from 
you, who have with such openness of friendship embraced 
my love, would argue either a pusillanimous or an ungrate- 
ful mind in me. Know, then, that I am that Ulysses , of 
whom I perceive ye have heard something ; who hereto- 
fore have filled the world with the renown of my policies. 
I am he by whose counsels, if Fame is to be believed at 
all, more than by the united valor of all the Grecians, 
Troy fell. I am that unhappy man whom the heavens and 
angry gods have conspired to keep an exile on the seas, 
wandering to seek my home, which still flies from me. 
The land which I am in quest of is Ithaca ; in whose ports 
some ship belonging to your navigation-famed Phseacian 
state may haply at some time have found a refuge from 
tempests. If ever you have experienced such kindness, 
requite it now, by granting to me, who am the king of 
that land, a passport to that land.” 

Admiration seized all the court of Alcinous, to behold 
in their presence one of the number of those heroes who 
fought at Troy, whose divine story had been made known 
to them by songs and poems, but of the truth they had 
little known, or rather they had hitherto accounted those 
heroic exploits as fictions and exaggerations of poets ; but 
having seen and made proof of the real Ulysses, they 
began to take those supposed inventions to be real verities, 
and the tale of Troy to be as true as it was delightful. 


66 


THE ADVENTURES 


Then king Alcinous made answer : “ Thrice fortunate 
ought we to esteem our lot, in having seen and conversed 
with a man of whom report hath spoken so loudly, but, as 
it seems, nothing beyond the truth. Though we could 
desire no felicity greater than to have you always among 
us, renowned Ulysses, yet your' desire having been ex- 
pressed so often and so deeply to return home, we can 
deny you nothing, though to our own loss. Our kingdom 
of Phseacia, as you know, is chiefly rich in shipping. In 
all parts of the world, where there are navigable seas, or 
ships can pass, our vessels will be found. You cannot 
name a coast to which they do not resort. Every rock 
and every quicksand is known to them that lurks in the 
vast deep. They pass a bird in flight; and with such 
unerring certainty they make to their destination that 
some have said that they have no need of pilot or rudder, 
but that they move instinctively, self-directed, and know 
the minds of their voyagers. Thus much, that you may 
not fear to trust yourself in one of our Phseacian ships. 
To-morrow, if you please, you shall launch forth. To-day 
spend with us in feasting, who never can do enough when 
the gods send such visitors.” 

, Ulysses acknowledged king Alcinous’s bounty; and 
while these two royal personages stood interchanging 
courteous expressions, the heart of the princess Nausicaa 
was overcome : she had been gazing attentively upon her 
father’s guest as he delivered his speech; but when he 
came to that part where he declared himself to be Ulys- 
ses, she blessed herself and her fortune that in relieving a 
poor shipwrecked mariner, as he seemed no better, she 
had conferred a kindness on so divine a hero as he proved ; 
and scarce waiting till her father had done speaking, with 


OF ULYSSES. 


67 


a cheerful countenance she addressed Ulysses, bidding 
him be cheerful, and when he returned home, as by her 
father’s means she trusted he would shortly, sometimes to 
remember to whom he owed his life, and who met him in 
the woods by the river Callicoe. 

“Fair flower of Phseacia,” he replied, “so may all the 
gods bless me with the strife of joys In that desired day, 
whenever I shall see it, as I shall always acknowledge to 
be indebted to your fair hand for the gift of life which I 
enjoy, and all the blessings which shall follow upon my 
home-return. The gods give thee, Nausicaa, a princely 
husband; and from you two spring blessings to this 
state.” So prayed Ulysses, his heart overflowing with 
admiration and grateful recollections of king Alcinous’s 
daughter. 

Then at the king’s request he gave them a brief rela- 
tion of all the adventures that had befallen him since he 
launched forth from Troy ; during which the princess 
Nausicaa took great delight (as ladies are commonly taken 
with these kind of travellers’ stories) to hear of the monster 
Polyphemus, of the men that devour each other in Lsestry- 
gonia, of the enchantress Circe, of Scylla, and the rest ; to 
which she listened with a breathless attention, letting fall 
a shower of tears from her fair eyes every now and then, 
when Ulysses told of some more than usual distressful 
passage in his travels; and all the rest of his auditors, 
if they had before entertained a high respect for their 
guest, now felt their veneration increased tenfold, when 
they learned from his own mouth what perils, what suf- 
ferance, what endurance, of evils beyond man’s strength 
to support, this much-sustaining, almost heavenly man, by 
the greatness of his mind, and by his invincible courage, 
had struggled through. 


G8 


THE ADVENTURES 


The night was far spent before Ulysses had ended his 
narrative, and with wishful glances he cast his eyes towards 
the eastern parts, which the sun had begun to flecker with 
his first red; for on the morrow Alcinous had promised 
that a bark should be in readiness to convoy him to 
Ithaca. 

In the morning a vessel well manned and appointed was 
waiting for him ; into which the king and queen heaped 
presents of gold and silver, massy plate, apparel, armor, 
and whatsoever things of cost or rarity they judged would 
be most acceptable to their guest ; and the sails being set, 
Ulysses, embarking with expressions of regret, took his 
leave of his royal entertainers, of the fair princess (who 
had been his first friend), and of the peers of Phseacia ; 
who crowding down to the beach to have the last sight of 
their illustrious visitant, beheld the gallant ship with all 
her canvas spread, bounding and curveting over the waves, 
like a horse proud of his rider, or as if she knew that in 
her capacious hold’s rich freightage she bore Ulysses. 

He whose life past had been a series of disquiets, in seas 
among rude waves, in battles amongst ruder foes, now 
slept securely, forgetting all ; his eye-lids bound in such 
deep sleep as only yielded to death ; and when they reached 
the nearest Ithacan port by the next morning, he was still 
asleep. The mariners, not willing to awake him, landed 
him softly, and laid him in a cave at the foot of an olive- 
tree, which made a shady recess in that narrow harbor, the 
haunt of almost none but the sea-nymphs, which are called 
Naiads ; few ships before this Phseacian vessel having put 
into that haven, by reason of the difficulty and narrowness 
of the entrance. Here leaving him asleep, and disposing 
in safe places near him the presents with which king Alci- 


OF ULYSSES. 


69 


nous had dismissed him, they departed for Phseacia ; where 
these wretched mariners never again set foot ; but just as 
they arrived, and thought to salute their country earth, in 
sight of their city’s turrets, and in open view of their 
friends, who from the harbor with shouts greeted their 
return, their vessel and all the mariners which were in her 
were turned to stone, and stood transformed and fixed in 
sight of the whole Pheeacian city, where it yet stands, by 
Neptune’s vindictive wrath ; who resented thus highly the 
contempt which those Phfeacians had shown in convoying 
home a man whom the god had destined to destruction. 
Whence it comes to pass that the Phseacians at this day 
will at no price be induced to lend their ships to strangers, 
or to become the carriers for other nations, so highly do 
they still dread the displeasure of their sea-god, while they 
see that terrible monument ever in sight. 

When Ulysses awoke, which was not till some time after 
the mariners had departed, he did not at first know his 
country again, either that long absence had made it strange, 
or that Minerva (which was more likely) had cast a cloud 
about his eyes, that he should have greater pleasure here- 
after in discovering his mistake ; but like a man suddenly 
awaking in some desert isle, to which his sea-mates have 
transported him in his sleep, he looked around, and dis- 
cerning no known objects, he cast his hands to heaven for 
pity, and complained of those ruthless men who had be- 
guiled him with a promise of conveying him home to his 
country, and perfidiously left him to perish in an unknown 
land. But then the rich presents of gold and silver given 
him by Alcinous, which he saw carefully laid up in secure 
places near him, staggered him: which seemed not like 
the act of wrongful or unjust men, such as turn pirates 


70 


THE ADVENTURES 


for gain, or land helpless passengers in remote coasts to 
possess themselves of their goods. 

While he remained in this suspense, there came up to 
him a young shepherd, clad in the finer sort of apparel, 
such as kings’ sons wore in those days when princes did 
not disdain to tend sheep, who, accosting him, was saluted 
again by Ulysses, who asked him what country that was 
on which he had been just landed, and whether it were 
part of a continent, or an island. The young shepherd 
made show of wonder, to hear any one ask the name of 
that land ; as country people are apt to esteem those for 
mainly ignorant and barbarous who do not know the 
names of places which are familiar to them , though per- 
haps they who ask have had no opportunities of knowing, 
and may have come from far countries. 

“I had thought,” said /he, “that all people knew our 
land. It is rocky and barren, to be sure ; but well enough : 
it feeds a goat or an ox well ; it is not wanting either in 
wine or in wheat ; it has good springs of water, some fair 
rivers ; and wood enough, as you may see : it is called 
Ithaca.” 

Ulysses was joyed enough to find himself in his own 
country; but so prudently he carried his joy, that, dis- 
sembling his true name and quality, he pretended to the 
shepherd that he was only some foreigner, who, by stress of 
weather, had put into that port ; and framed on the sud- 
den a story to make it plausible, how he had come from 
Crete in a ship of Phaeacia ; when the young shepherd, 
laughing, and taking Ulysses’s hand in both his, said to 
him : “ He must be cunning, I find, who thinks to over- 
reach you. What, cannot you quit your wiles and your 
subtleties, now that you are in a state of security ? must 


OF ULYSSES. 


71 


the first word with which you salute your native earth be 
an untruth? and think you that you are unknown? ” 

Ulysses looked again ; and he saw, not a shepherd, but 
a beautiful woman, whom he immediately knew to be the 
goddess Minerva, that in the wars of Troy had frequently 
vouchsafed her sight to him ; and had been with him since 
in perils, saving him unseen. 

“ Let not my ignorance offend thee, great Minerva,” he 
cried, “ or move thy displeasure, that in. that shape I knew 
thee not; since the skill of discerning of deities is not 
attainable by wit or study, but hard to be hit by the 
wisest of mortals. To know thee truly through all thy 
changes is only given to those whom thou art pleased to 
grace. To all men thou takest all likenesses. All men 
in their wits think that they know thee, and that they 
have thee. Thou art wisdom itself. • But a semblance of 
thee, which is false wisdom, often is taken for thee ; so thy 
counterfeit view appears to many, but thy true presence 
to few: those are they which, loving thee above all, are 
inspired with light from thee to know thee. But this I 
surely know, that all the time the sons of Greece waged 
war against Troy, I was sundry times graced with thy 
appearance ; but since, I have never been able to set eyes 
upon thee till now ; but have wandered at my own discre- 
tion, to myself a blind guide, erring up and down the 
world, wanting thee.” 

Then Minerva cleared his eyes, and he knew the ground 
on which he stood to be Ithaca, and that cave to be the 
same which the people of Ithaca had in former times made 
sacred to the sea-nymphs, and where he himself had done 
sacrifices to them a thousand times ; and full in his view 


72 


THE ADVENTURES 


stood Mount Nerytus with all his woods : so that now he 
knew for a certainty that he was arrived in his own 
country, and with the delight which he felt he could not 
forbear stooping down and kissing the soil. 

Nerytus (Ner'-ytus). 


OF ULYSSES. 


73 


CHAPTER VIII. 

The Change from a King to a Beggar. — Eumseus and the Herdsman. 

— Telemachus. 

HVTOT long did Minerva suffer him to indulge vain 
JLN transports ; but briefly recounting to him the events 
which had taken place in Ithaca during his absence, she 
showed him that his way to his wife and throne did not 
lie so open, but that before he were reinstated in the secure 
possession of them he must encounter many difficulties. 
His palace, wanting its king, was become the resort of 
insolent and imperious men, the chief nobility of Ithaca 
and of the neighboring isles, who, in the confidence of 
Ulysses being dead, came as suitors to Penelope. The 
queen (it was true) continued single, but was little better 
than a state-prisoner in the power of these men, who, under 
a pretence of waiting her decision, occupied the king’s 
house rather as owners than guests, lording and domineer- 
ing at their pleasure, profaning the palace and wasting 
the royal substance with their feasts and mad riots. More- 
over, the goddess told him how, fearing the attempts of 
these lawless men upon the person of his young son Telem- 
achus, she herself had put it into the heart of the prince 
to go and seek his father in far countries; how in the 
shape of Mentor she had born him company in his long 
search ; which, though failing, as she meant it should fail, 
in its first object, had yet had this effect, that through 

Eumseus (Eu-me'-tis). Telemachus (Te-lgm'-&-kus). 


74 


THE ADVENTURES 


hardships he had learned endurance, through experience 
he had gathered wisdom, and wherever his footsteps had 
been he had left such memorials of his worth as the fame 
of Ulysses’s son was already blown throughout the world. 
That it was now not many days since Telemachus had 
arrived in the island, to the great joy of the queen his 
mother, who had thought him dead, by reason of his long 
absence, and had begun to mourn for him with a grief 
equal to that which she endured for Ulysses: the goddess 
herself having so ordered the course of his adventures that 
the time of his return should correspond with the return 
of Ulysses, that they might together concert measures how 
to repress the power and insolence of those wicked suitors. 
This the goddess told him ; but of the particulars of his 
son’s adventures, of his having been detained in the De- 
lightful Island, which his father had so lately left, of 
Calypso and her nymphs, and the many strange occur- 
rences which may be read with profit and delight in the 
history of the prince’s adventures, she forbore to tell him 
as yet, as judging that he would hear them with greater 
pleasure from the lips of his son, when he should have 
him in an hour of stillness and safety, when their work 
should be done, and none of their enemies left alive to 
trouble them. 

Then they sat down, the goddess and Ulysses, at the 
foot of a wild olive-tree, consulting how they might with 
safety bring about his restoration. And when Ulysses 
revolved in his mind how that his enemies were a multi- 
tude, and he single, he began to despond, and he said, “ I 
shall die an ill death like Agamemnon ; in the threshold 
of my own house I shall perish, like that unfortunate 
monarch, slain by some one of my wife’s suitors.” But 


OF ULYSSES. 


75 


then again calling to mind his ancient courage, he secretly 
wished that Minerva would but breathe such a spirit into 
his bosom as she inflamed him with in the hour of Troy’s 
destruction, that he might encounter with three hundred 
of those impudent suitors at once, and strew the pave- 
ments of his beautiful palace with their blood and brains. 

And Minerva knew his thoughts, and she said, “ I will 
be strongly with thee, if thou fail not to do thy part. 
And for a sign between us that I will perform my prom- 
ise, and for a token on thy part of obedience, ,1 must 
change thee, that thy person may not be known of men.” 

Then Ulysses bowed his head to receive the divine 
impression, and Minerva by her great power changed his 
person so that it might not be known. She changed him 
to appearance into a very old man, yet such a one as by 
his limbs and gait seemed to have been some considerable 
person in his time, and to retain yet some remains of his 
once prodigious strength. Also, instead of those rich 
robes in which king Alcinous had clothed him, she threw 
over his limbs such old and tattered rags as wandering 
beggars usually wear. A staff supported his steps, and a 
scrip hung to his back, such as travelling mendicants use 
to hold the scraps which are given to them at rich men's 
doors. So from a king he became a beggar, as wise 
Tiresias had predicted to him in the shades. 

To complete his humiliation, and to prove his obedience 
by suffering, she next directed him in this beggarly attire 
to go and present himself to his old herdsman Eumaeus, 
who had the care of his swine and his cattle, and had 
been a faithful steward to him all the time of his absence. 
Then strictly charging Ulysses that he should reveal him- 
self to no man, but to his own son, whom she would send 


76 


THE ADVENTURES 


to him when she saw occasion, the goddess went her 
way. 

The transformed Ulysses bent his course to the cottage 
of the herdsman, and, entering in at the front court, the 
dogs, of which Eumseus kept many fierce ones for the pro- 
tection of the cattle, flew with open mouths upon him, as 
those ignoble animals have oftentimes an antipathy to the 
sight of anything like a beggar, and would have rent him 
in pieces with their teeth, if Ulysses had not had the 
prudence to let fall his staff, which had chiefly provoked 
their fury, and sat himself down in a careless fashion 
upon the ground; but for all that, some serious hurt had 
certainly been done to him, so raging the dogs were, had 
not the herdsman, whom the barking of the dogs had 
fetched out of the house, with shouting and with throw- 
ing of stones repressed them. 

He said, when he saw Ulysses, “ Old father, how near 
you were to being torn in pieces by these rude dogs! I 
should never have forgiven myself, if through neglect of 
mine any hurt had happened to you. But Heaven has 
given me so many cares to my portion that I might well 
be excused for not attending to everything : while here I 
lie grieving and mourning for the absence of that majesty 
which once ruled here, and am forced to fatten his swine 
and his cattle for food to evil men, who hate him and who 
wish his death; when he perhaps strays up and down the 
world, and has not wherewith to appease hunger, if indeed 
he yet lives (which is a question) and enjoys the cheerful 
light of the sun.” This he said, little thinking that he 
of whom he spoke now stood before him, and that in that 
uncouth disguise and beggarly obscurity was present the 
hidden majesty of Ulysses. 


OF ULYSSES. 


77 


Then he had his guest into the house, and set meat 
and drink before him; and Ulysses said, “May Jove and 
all the other gods requite you for the kind speeches and 
hospitable usage which you have shown me ! ” 

Eumseus made answer, “ My poor guest, if one in much 
worse plight than yourself had arrived here, it were a 
shame to such scanty means as I have if I had let him de- 
part without entertaining him to the best of my ability. 
Poor men, and such as have no houses of their own, are 
by Jove himself recommended to our care. But the cheer 
which we, that are servants to other men, have to bestow 
is but sorry at most, yet freely and lovingly I give it you. 
Indeed, there once ruled here a man, whose return the 
gods have set their faces against, who, if he had been 
suffered to reign in peace and grow old among us, would 
have been kind to me and mine. But he is gone ; and 
for his sake would to God that the whole posterity of 
Helen might perish with her, since in her quarrel so many 
worthies have perished ! But such as your fare is, eat it, 
and be welcome — such lean beasts as are food for poor 
herdsmen. The fattest go to feed the voracious stomachs 
of the queen’s suitors. Shame on their unworthiness ! 
there is no day in which two or three of the noblest of the 
herd are not slain to support their feasts and their sur- 
feits.” 

Ulysses gave good ear to his words ; and as he ate his 
meat, he even tore it and rent it with his teeth, for mere 
vexation that his fat cattle should be slain to glut the 
appetites of those godless suitors. And he said, “What 
chief or what ruler is this, that thou commendest so highly, 
and sayest that he perished at Troy ? I am but a stran- 
ger in these parts. It may be I have heard of some such 
in my long travels.” 


78 


THE ADVENTURES 


Eumseus answered, “ Old father, never any one of all 
the strangers that have coine to our coast with news of 
Ulysses being alive could gain credit with the queen or 
her son yet. These travellers, to get raiment or a meal, 
will not stick to invent any lie. Truth is not the com- 
modity they deal in. Never did the queen get anything 
of them but lies. She receives all that come graciousty, 
hears their stories, inquires all she can, but all ends in 
tears and dissatisfaction. But in God’s name, old father, 
if you have got a tale, make the most on’t, it may gain 
you a cloak or a coat from somebody to keep you warm ; 
but for him who is the subject of it, dogs and vultures 
long since have torn him limb from limb, or some great 
fish at sea has devoured him, or he lieth with no better 
monument upon his bones than the sea-sand. But for 
me, past all the race of men were tears created ; for I 
never shall find so kind a royal master more ; not if my 
father or my mother could come again and visit me from 
the tomb, would my eyes be so blessed, as they should be 
with the sight of him again, coming as from the dead. 
In his last rest my soul shall love him. He is not here, 
nor do I name him as a flatterer, but because I am thank- 
ful for his love and care which he had to me a poor man ; 
and if I knew surely that he were past all shores that the 
sun shines upon, I would invoke him as a deified being.” 

For this saying of Eumaeus the waters stood in Ulys- 
ses’s eyes, and he said, “My friend, to say and to affirm 
positively that he cannot be alive is to give too much li- 
cense to incredulity. For, not to speak at random, but 
with as much solemnity as an oath comes to, I say to you 
that Ulysses shall return; and whenever that day shall 
be, then shall you give to me a cloak and a coat; but 


OF ULYSSES. 


79 


till then, I will not receive so much as a thread of a gar- 
ment, but rather go naked ; for no less than the gates of 
hell do I hate that man whom poverty can force to tell an 
untruth. Be Jove then witness to my words, that this 
very year, nay, ere this month be fully ended, your eyes 
shall behold Ulysses, dealing vengeance in his own palace 
upon the wrongers of his wife and his son.” 

To give the better credence to his words, he amused 
Eumseus with a forged story of his life ; feigning of him- 
self that he was a Cretan born, and one that went with 
Idomeneus to the wars of Troy. Also he said that he 
knew Ulysses, and related various passages which he al- 
leged to have happened betwixt Ulysses and himself, 
which were either true in the main, as having really hap- 
pened between Ulysses and some other person, or were so 
like to truth, as corresponding with the known character 
and actions of Ulysses, that Eumseus’s incredulity was 
not a little shaken. Among other things he asserted that 
he had lately been entertained in the court of Thesprotia, 
where the king’s son of the country had told him that 
Ulysses had been there but just before him, and was gone 
upon a voyage to the oracle of Jove in Dodona, whence 
he should shortly return, and a ship would be read}^ by 
the bounty of the Thesprotians to convoy him straight to 
Ithaca. “And in token that what I tell you is true,” 
said Ulysses, “if your king come not within the period 
which I have named, you shall have leave to give your 
servants commandment to take my old carcass, and throw 
it headlong from some steep rock into the sea, that poor 

Idomeneus (I-dom'-e-neus). 

Oracle : a declaration of the will of the gods, particularly their answer 
to a direct inquiry made at one of their temples or groves. 


80 


THE AD VENTURES 


men, taking example by me, may fear to lie.” But 
Eumseus made answer that that should be small satisfac- 
tion or pleasure to him. 

So while they sat discoursing in this manner, supper 
was served in, and the servants of the herdsman, who had 
been out all day in the fields, came in to supper, and took 
their seats at the fire, for the night was bitter and frosty. 
After supper, Ulysses, who had well eaten and drunken, 
and was refreshed with the herdsman’s good cheer, was 
resolved to try whether his host’s hospitality would extend 
to the lending him a good warm mantle or rug to cover 
him in the night season ; and framing an artful tale for 
the purpose, in a merry mood, filling a cup of Greek wine, 
he thus began : 

“I will tell you a story of your king Ulysses and my- 
self. If there is ever a time when a man may have leave 
to tell his own stories, it is when he has drunken a little 
too much. Strong liquor driveth the fool, and moves 
even the heart of the wise, moves and impels him to sing 
and to dance, and break forth in pleasant laughters, and 
perchance to prefer a speech too which were better kept 
in. When the heart is open, the tongue will be stirring. 
But you shall hear. We led our powers to ambush once 
under the walls of Troy.” 

The herdsmen crowded about him eager to hear any- 
thing which related to their king Ulysses and the wars of 
Troy, and thus he went on : 

“ I remember, Ulysses and Menelaus had the direction 
of that enterprise, and they were pleased to join me with 
them in the command. I was at that time in some re- 
pute among men, though fortune has played me a trick 
since, as you may perceive. But I was somebody in those 


OF ULYSSES. 


81 


times, and could do something. Be that as it may, a 
bitter freezing night it was, such a night as this, the air 
cut like steel, and the sleet gathered on our shields like 
crystal. There was some twenty of us, that lay close 
crouched down among the reeds and bulrushes that 
grew in the moat that goes round the city. The rest of 
us made tolerable shift, for every man had been careful to 
bring with him a good cloak or mantle to wrap over his 
armor and keep himself warm ; but I, as it chanced, had left 
my cloak behind me, as not expecting that the night would 
prove so cold, or rather, I believe, because I had at that 
time a brave suit of new armor on, which, being a soldier, 
and having some of the soldier’s vice about me — vanity 
— I was not willing should be hidden under a cloak ; but 
I paid for my indiscretion with my sufferings, for with the 
inclement night, and the wet of the ditch in which we 
lay, I was well-nigh frozen to death ; and when I could 
endure no longer, I jogged Ulysses who was next to me, 
and had a nimble ear, and made known my case to him, 
assuring him that I must inevitably perish. He answered 
in a low whisper, 4 Hush, lest any Greek should hear you, 
and take notice of your softness.’ Not a word more he 
said, but showed as if he had no pity for the plight I was 
in. But he was as considerate as he was brave ; and even 
then v as he lay with his head reposing upon his hand, he 
was meditating how to relieve me, without exposing my 
weakness. to the soldiers. At last, raising up his head, he 
made as if he had been asleep, and said, ‘Friends, I have 
been warned in a dream to send to the fleet to king Aga- 
memnon for a supply, to recruit our numbers, for we are 
not sufficient for this enterprise ; ’ and they believing him, 
one Thoas was despatched on that errand, who departing, 


82 


THE ADVENTUEES 


for more speed, as Ulysses had foreseen, left his upper 
garment behind him, a good warm mantle, to which I 
succeeded, and by the help of it got through the night 
with credit. This shift Ulysses made for one in need, and 
would to heaven that I had now that strength in my limbs 
which made me in those days to be accounted fit to be a 
leader under Ulysses ! I should not then want the loan of 
a cloak or a mantle, to wrap about me and shield my old 
limbs from the night air.” 

The tale pleased the herdsmen ; and Eumseus, who more 
than all the rest was gratified to hear tales of Ulysses, true 
or false, said that for his story he deserved a mantle, and 
a night’s lodging, which he should have; and he spread 
for him a bed of goat and sheep skins by the fire ; and the 
seeming beggar, who was indeed the true Ulysses, lay 
down and slept under that poor roof, in that abject dis- 
guise to which the will of Minerva had subjected him. 

When morning was come, Ulysses made offer to depart, 
as if he were not willing to burden his host’s hospitality 
any longer, but said that he would go and try the hu- 
manity of the townsfolk, if any there would bestow upon 
him a bit of bread or a cup of drink. Perhaps the queen’s 
suitors (he said), out of their full feasts, would bestow a 
scrap on him ; for he could wait at table, if need were, and 
play the nimble serving-man ; he could fetch wood (he 
said) or build a fire, prepare roast meat or boiled, mix the 
wine with water, or do any of those offices which recom- 
mended poor men like him to services in great men’s 
houses. 

“ Alas ! poor guest,” said Eumaeus, “ you know not what 
you speak. What should so poor and old a man as you 
do at the suitors’ tables? Their light minds are not given 


OF ULYSSES. 


83 


to such grave servitors. They must have youths, richly 
tricked out in flowing vests, with curled hair, like so many 
of Jove’s cupbearers, to fill out the wine to them as they 
sit at table, and to shift their trenchers. Their gorged 
insolence would but despise and make a mock at thy age. 
Stay here. Perhaps the queen, or Telemachus, hearing of 
thy arrival, may send to thee of their bounty.” 

As he spoke these words, the steps of one crossing the 
front court were heard, and a noise of the dogs fawning 
and leaping about as for joy ; by which token Eumseus 
guessed that it was the prince, who, hearing of a traveller 
being arrived at Eumseus’s cottage that brought tidings of 
his father, was come to search the truth; and Eumseus 
said, “ It is the tread of Telemachus, the son of king Ulys- 
ses.” Before he could well speak the words, the prince 
was at the door, whom Ulysses rising to receive, Telema- 
chus would not suffer that so aged a man, as he appeared, 
should rise to do respect to him, but he courteously and 
reverently took him by the hand, and inclined his head to 
him, as if he had surely known that it was his father in- 
deed; but Ulysses covered his eyes with his hands, that 
he might not show the waters which stood in them. And 
Telemachus said, “Is this the man who can tell us tidings 
of the king my father ? ” 

“ He brags himself to be a Cretan born,” said Eumseus, 
“and that he has been a soldier and a traveller, but 
whether he speak the truth or not he alone can tell. But 
whatsoever he has been, what he is now is apparent. Such 
as he appears, I give him to you ; do what you will with 
him ; his boast at present is that he is at the very best a 
supplicant.” 


Trenchers : wooden-plates. 


84 


THE ADVENTURES 


“ Be what he may,” said Telemachus, “ I accept him at 
your hands. But where I should bestow him I know not, 
seeing that in the palace his age would not exempt him 
from the scorn and contempt which my mother’s suitors in j 
their light minds would be sure to fling upon him : a mercy j 
if he escaped without blows ; for they are a company of 
evil men, whose profession is wrongs and violence.” 

Ulysses answered : “Since it is free for any man to speak 
in presence of your greatness, I must say that my heart 
puts on a wolfish inclination to tear and to devour, hear- 
ing your speech, that these suitors should with such injus- 
tice rage, where you should have the rule solely. What 
should the cause be ? do you wilfully give way to their ill 
manners? or has your government been such as has pro- 
cured ill-will towards you from your ‘people ? or do you 
mistrust your kinsfolk and friends in such sort as without 
trial to decline their aid? A man’s kindred are they that 
he might trust to when extremities run high.” 

Telemachus replied: “ The kindred of Ulysses are few. 

I have no brothers to assist me in the strife. But the 
suitors are powerful in kindred and friends. The house of 
old Arcesius has had this fate from the heavens, that from 
old it still has been supplied with single heirs. To Arce- 
sius, Laertes only was born, from Laertes descended only 
Ulysses, from Ulysses I alone have sprung, whom he left 
so young that from me never comfort arose to him. But 
the end of all rests in the hands of the gods.” 

Then Eumseus departing to see to some necessary busi- 
ness of his herds, Minerva took a woman’s shape, and stood 
in the entry of the door, and was seen by Ulysses, but by his 
son she was not seen, for the presences of the gods are invisi- 
Arcesius (Ar-ce'-si-us). 


OF ULYSSES. 


85 


ble save to those to whom they will to reveal themselves. 
Nevertheless, the dogs which were about the door saw the 
goddess, and durst not bark, but went crouching and lick- 
ing of the dust for fear. And giving signs to Ulysses that 
the time was now come in which he should make himself 
known to his son, by her great power she changed back 
his shape into the same which it was before she trans- 
formed him ; and Telemachus, who saw the change, but 
nothing of the manner by which it was effected, only he 
saw the appearance of a king in the vigor of his age where 
but just now he had seen a worn and decrepit beggar, was 
struck with fear, and said, “ Some god has done this house 
this honor,” and he turned away his eyes, and would have 
worshipped. But his father permitted not, but said, “ Look 
better at me ; I ant no deity, why put you upon me the 
reputation of godhead ? I am no more but thy father : I 
am even he ; I am that Ulysses by reason of whose absence 
thy youth has been exposed to such wrongs from injurious 
men.” Then kissed he his son, nor could any longer re- 
frain those tears which he had held under such mighty 
restraint before, though they would ever be forcing them- 
selves out in spite of him ; but now, as if their sluices had 
burst, they came out like rivers, pouring upon the warm 
cheeks of his son. Nor yet by all these violent arguments 
could Telemachus be persuaded to believe that it was his 
father, but he said some deity had taken that shape to 
mock him ; for he affirmed that it was not in the power of 
any man, who is sustained by mortal food, to change his 
shape so in a moment from age to youth : for, “ but now,” 
said he, “ you were all wrinkles, and were old, and now 
you look as the gods are pictured.” 

His father replied: “Admire, but fear not, and know 


86 


THE ADVENTURES 


me to be at all parts substantially thy father, who in the 
inner powers of his mind, and the unseen workings of a 
father’s love to thee, answers to his outward shape and 
pretence ! There shall no more Ulysseses come here. I am 
he that after twenty years’ absence, and suffering a world 
of ill, have recovered at last the sight of my country earth. 
It was the will of Minerva that I should be changed as 
you saw me. She put me thus „ together; she puts 
together or takes to pieces whom she pleases. It is in 
the law of her free power to do it : sometimes to show her 
favorites under a cloud, and poor, and again to restore 
to them their ornaments. The gods raise and throw down 
men with ease.” 

Then Telemachus could hold out no longer, but he gave 
way now to a full belief and persuasion, of that which for 
joy at first he could not credit, that it was indeed his true 
and very father that stood before him ; and they embraced, 
and mingled their tears. 

Then said Ulysses, “ Tell me who these suitors are, what 
are their numbers, and how stands the queen thy mother 
affected to them ? ” 

“ She bears them still in expectation,” said Telemachus, 
“ which she never means to fulfil, that she will accept the 
hand of some one of them in second nuptials. For she 
fears to displease them by an absolute refusal. So from 
day to day she lingers them on with hope, which they are 
content to bear the deferring of, while they have enter- 
'ainment at free cost in our palace.” 

1 Then said Ulysses, “ Reckon up their numbers that we 
may know their strength and ours, if we having none but 
ourselves may hope to prevail against them.” 

“ O father,” he replied, “ I have ofttimes heard of your 


OF ULYSSES. 


8T 

fame for wisdom, and of the great strength of your arm, but 
the venturous mind which your speeches now indicate 
moves me even to amazement : for in nowise can it consist 
with wisdom or a sound mind that two should try their 
strengths against a host. Nor five, or ten, or twice ten 
strong are these suitors, but many more by much ; from 
Dulichium came there fifty and two, they and their 
servants ; twice twelve crossed the seas hither from Samos; 
from Zacynthus twice ten ; of our native Ithacans, men of 
chief note, are twelve who aspire to the hand and crown 
of Penelope; and all these under one strong roof — a 
fearful odds against two ! My father, there is need of 
caution, lest the cup which your great mind so thirsts to 
taste of vengeance prove bitter to yourself in the drinking. 
And therefore it were well that we should bethink us of 
some one who might assist us in this undertaking.” 

“ Thinkest thou,” said his father, “ if we had Minerva 
and the king of skies to be our friends, would their suffi- 
ciences make strong our part ; or must we look out for 
some further aid yet?” 

“ They you speak of are above the clouds,” said Telem- 
achus, “and are sound aids indeed; as powers that not 
only exceed human, but bear the chiefest sway among the 
gods themselves.” 

Then Ulysses gave directions to his son to go and 
mingle with the suitors, and in nowise to impart his secret 
to any, not even to the queen his mother, but to hold him- 
self in readiness, and to have his weapons and his good armor 
in preparation. And he charged him that when he himself 
should come to the palace, as he meant to follow shortly 
after, and present himself in his beggar’s likeness to the 

Dulicliium (Du-lik'-i-um). 


88 


THE ADVENTURES 


suitors, that whatever he should see which might grieve 
his heart, with what foul usage and contumelious language 
soever the suitors should receive his father, coming in that 
shape, though they should strike and drag him by the 
heels along the floors, that he should not stir nor make 
offer to oppose them, further than by mild words to 
expostulate with them, until Minerva from heaven should 
give the sign which should be the prelude to their destruc- 
tion. And Telemachus, promising to obey his instructions, 
departed ; and the shape of Ulysses fell to what it had 
been before, and he became to all outward appearance a 
beggar, in base and beggarly attire. 


OF ULYSSES. 


89 


CHAPTER IX. 


The Queen’s Suitors. — The Battle of the Beggars. — The Armor 
• taken down. — The Meeting with Penelope. 

ROM the house of Eumseus the seeming beggar took 



I 1 his way, leaning on his staff, till he reached the pal- 
ace, entering in at the hall where the suitors sat at meat. 
They in the pride of their feasting began to break their 
jests in mirthful manner, when they saw one looking so 
poor and so aged approach. He, who expected no better 
entertainment, was nothing moved at their behavior, but, 
as became the character which he had assumed, in a sup- 
pliant posture crept by turns to every suitor, and held out 
his hands for some charity, with such a natural and beggar- 
resembling grace that he might seem to have practised 
begging all his life ; yet there was a sort of dignity in his 
most abject stoopings, that whoever had seen him would 
have said, If it had pleased Heaven that this poor man had 
been born a king, he would gracefully have filled a throne. 
And some pitied him, and some gave him alms, as their 
present humors inclined them, bilt the greater part reviled 
him, and bade him begone, as one that spoiled their feast ; 
for the presence of misery has this power with it, that, 
while it stays, it can dash and overturn the mirth even of 
those who feel no pity or wish to relieve it : nature bearing 
this witness of herself in the hearts of the most obdurate. 

Now Telemachus sat at meat with the suitors, and knew 
that it was the king his father who in that shape begged 


90 


THE ADVENTURES 


an alms ; and when his father came and presented himself 
before him in turn, as he had done to the suitors one by 
one, he gave him of his own meat which he had in his dish, 
and of his own cup to drink. And the suitors were past 
measure offended to see a pitiful beggar, as they esteemed 
him, to be so choicely regarded by the prince. 

Then Antinous, who was a great lord, and of chief note 
among the suitors, said, “Prince Telemachus does ill to 
encourage these wandering beggars, who go from place to 
place, affirming that they have been some considerable per- 
sons in their time, filling the ears of such as hearken to 
them with lies, and pressing with their bold feet into kings’ 
palaces. This is some saucy vagabond, some travelling 
Egyptian.” 

“I see,” said Ulysses, “that a poor man should get but 
little at your board ; scarce should he get salt from your 
hands, if he brought his own meat.” 

Lord Antinous, indignant to be answered with such 
sharpness by a supposed beggar, snatched up a stool, with 
which he smote Ulysses where the neck and shoulders 
join. This usage moved not Ulysses; but in his great 
heart he meditated deep evils to come upon them all, 
which for a time must be kept close, and he went and sat 
himself down in the door-way to eat of that which was 
given him; and he said, “For life or possessions a man 
will fight, but for his appetite this man smites. If a poor 
man has any god to take his part, my lord Antinous shall 
not live to be the queen’s husband.” 

Then Antinous raged highly, and threatened to drag 
him by the heels, and to rend his rags about his ears, if 
he spoke another word. 

But the other suitors did in nowise approve of the harsh 


OF ULYSSES. 


91 


language, nor of the blow which Antinous had dealt ; and 
some of them said, “ Who knows but one of the deities 
goes about hid under that poor disguise ? for in the like- 
ness of poor pilgrims the gods have many times descended 
to try the dispositions of men, whether they be humane 
or impious.” While these things passed, Telemachus sat 
and observed all, but held his peace, remembering the 
instructions of his father. But secretly he waited for the 
sign which Minerva was to send from heaven. 

That day there followed Ulysses to the court one of the 
common sort of beggars, Irus by name, one that had re- 
ceived alms before time of the suitors, and was their ordi- 
nary sport, when they were inclined (as that day) to give 
way to mirth, to see him eat and drink; for he had the 
appetite of six men, and was of huge stature and propor- 
tions of body ; yet had in him no spirit nor courage of a 
man. This man, thinking to curry favor with the suitors, 
and recommend himself especially to such a great lord as 
Antinous was, began to revile and scorn Ulysses, putting 
foul language upon ‘him, and fairly challenging him to 
fight with the fist. But Ulysses, deeming his railings to 
be nothing more than jealousy and that envious disposi- 
tion which beggars commonly manifest to brothers in 
their trade, mildly besought him not to trouble him, but 
to enjoy that portion which the liberality of their enter' 
tainers gave him, as he did quietly ; seeing that, of their 
bounty, there was sufficient for all. 

But Irus, thinking that this forbearance in Ulysses was 
nothing more than a sign of fear, so much the more highly 
stormed, and bellowed, and provoked him to fight ; and by 
this time the quarrel had attracted the notice of the suitors, 
who with loud laughters and shouting egged on the dispute, 


92 


THE ADVENTURES 


and lord Antinous swore by all the gods it should be a bat- 
tle, and that in that hall the strife should be determined. 
To this the rest of the suitors with violent clamors acceded, 
and a circle was made for the combatants, and a fat goat 
was proposed as the victor’s prize, as at the Olympic or 
the Pythian games. Then Ulysses, seeing no remedy, or 
being not unwilling that the suitors should behold some 
proof of that strength which ere long in their own persons 
they were to taste of, stripped himself, and prepared for 
the combat. But first, he demanded that he should have 
fair play shown him, that none in that assembly should aid 
his opponent, or take part against him, for, being an old 
man, they might easily crush him with their strengths. 
And Telemachus passed his word that no foul play should 
be shown him, but that each combatant should be left to 
his own unassisted strengths, and to this he made Antin- 
ous and the rest of the suitors swear. 

But when Ulysses had laid aside his garments, and was 
bare to the waist, all the beholders admired at the goodly 
sight of his large shoulders, being of -such exquisite shape 
and whiteness, and at his great and brawny bosom, and the 
youthful strength which seemed to remain in a man thought 
so old; and they said, What limbs and what sinews he 
has ! and coward fear seized on the mind of that great vast 
beggar, and he dropped his threats, and his big words, and 
would have fled, but lord Antinous stayed him, and threat- 
ened him that if he declined the combat, he would put him 
in a ship, and land him on the shores where king Echetus 
reigned, the roughest tyrant which at that time the world 
contained, and who had that antipathy to rascal beggars, 
such as he, that when any landed on his coast he would crop 
Echetus (Ek'-e-tus). 


OF ULYSSES. 


93 


their ears and noses and give them to the dogs to tear. 
So Irus, in whom fear of king Echetus prevailed above 
the fear of Ulysses, addressed himself to fight. But Ulys- 
ses, provoked to be engaged in so odious a strife with a 
fellow of his base conditions, and loathing longer to be 
made a spectacle to entertain the eyes of his foes, with 
one blow, which he struck him beneath the ear, so shat- 
tered the teeth and jawbone of this soon baffled coward 
that he laid him sprawling in the dust, with small stom- 
ach or ability to renew the contest. Then raising him on 
his feet, he led him bleeding and sputtering to the door, 
and put his staff into his hand, and bade him go use his 
command upon dogs and swine, but not presume himself 
to be lord of the guests another time, nor of the beggary ! 

The suitors applauded in their vain minds the issue of 
the contest, and rioted in mirth at the expense of poor 
Irus, who, they vowed, should be forthwith embarked, and 
sent to king Echetus ; and they bestowed thanks on Ulys- 
ses for ridding the court of that unsavory morsel, as they 
called him; but in their inward souls they would not 
have cared if Irus had been victor, and Ulysses had taken 
the foil, but it was mirth to them to see the beggars fight. 
In such pastimes and light entertainments the day wore 
away. 

When evening was come, the suitors betook themselves 
to music and dancing. And Ulysses leaned his back 
against a pillar from which certain lamps hung which 
gave light to the dancers, and he made show of watching 
the dancers, but very different thoughts were in his head. 
And as he stood near the lamps, the light fell upon his 
head, which was thin of hair and bald, as an old man’s. 
And Eurymachus, a suitor, taking occasion from some 

Eurymachus (Eu-rym'-&-kus). 


94 


THE ADVENTURES 


words which were spoken before, scoffed, and said, “Now 
I know for a certainty that some god lurks under the poor 
and beggarly appearance of this man, for, as he stands by 
the lamps, his sleek head throws beams around it, like as 
it were a glory.” And another said, “ He passes his time, 
too, not much unlike the gods, lazily living exempt from 
labor, taking offerings of men.” “I warrant,” said Eury- 
machus again, “ he could not raise a fence or dig a ditch 
for his livelihood, if a man would hire him to work in a 
garden.” 

“ I wish,” said Ulysses, “ that you, who speak this, and 
myself were to be tried at any taskwork: that I had a 
good crooked scythe put in my hand, that was sharp and 
strong, and you such another, where the grass grew long- 
est, to be up by daybreak, mowing the meadows till the 
sun went down, not tasting of food till we had finished ; 
or that we were set to plough four acres in one day of 
good glebe land, to see whose furrows were evenest and 
cleanest; or that we might have one wrestling-bout to- 
gether; or that in our right hands a good steel-headed 
lance were placed, to try whose blows fell heaviest and 
thickest upon the adversary’s head-piece. I would cause 
you such work as you should have small reason to reproach 
me with being slack at work. But you would do well to 
spare me this reproach, and to save your strength till the 
owner of this house shall return, till the day when Ulysses 
shall return, when returning he shall enter upon his birth- 
right.” 

This was a galling speech to those suitors, to whom 
Ulysses’s return was indeed the thing which they most 
dreaded ; and a sudden fear fell upon their souls, as if 
Glebe : land that lias not been ploughed. 


OF ULYSSES. 


95 


they were sensible of the real presence of that man who 
did indeed stand amongst them, but not in that form 
as they might know him ; and Eurymachus, incensed, 
snatched a massy cup which stood on a table near and 
hurled it at the head of the supposed beggar, and but nar- 
rowly missed the hitting of him; and all the suitors rose, 
as at once, to thrust him out of the hall, which they said 
his beggarly presence and his rude speeches had profaned. 
But Telemachus cried to them to forbear, and not to pre- 
sume to lay hands upon a wretched man to whom he had 
promised protection. He asked if they were mad, to mix 
such abhorred uproar with his feasts. He bade them take 
their food and their wine, to sit up or to go to bed at their 
free pleasures, so long as he should give license to that 
freedom ; but why should they abuse his banquet, or let 
the words which a poor beggar spake have power to move 
their spleens so fiercely ? 

They bit their lips and frowned for anger to be checked 
so by a youth ; nevertheless for that time they had the 
grace to abstain, either for shame, or that Minerva had 
infused into them a terror of Ulysses’s son. 

So that day’s feast was concluded without bloodshed, 
and the suitors, tired with their sports, departed severally 
each man to his apartment. Only Ulysses and Telema- 
chus remained. And now Telemachus, by his father’s 
direction, went and brought down into the hall armor and 
lances from the armory ; for Ulysses said, “ On the mor- 
row we shall have need of them.” And moreover he said, 
“If any one shall ask why you have taken them down, 
say it is to clean them and scour them from the rust which 
they have gathered since the owner this house went to 
Troy.” And as Telemachus stood A5y~ the armor, the 


96 


THE ADVENTURES 


lights were all gone out, and it was pitch dark, and the 
armor gave out glistering beams as of fire, and he said to 
his father, “ The pillars of the house are on fire.” And 
his father said, “ It is the gods who sit above the stars, 
and have power to make the night as light as the day.” 
And he took it for a good omen. And Telemachus fell to 
cleaning and sharpening of the lances. 

Now Ulysses had not seen his wife Penelope in all the 
time since his return ; for the queen did not care to mingle 
with the suitors at their banquets, but, as became one that 
had been Ulysses’s wife, kept much in private, spinning, 
and doing her excellent housewiferies among her maids, in 
the remote apartments of the palace. Only upon solemn 
days she would come down and show herself to the suitors. 
And Ulysses was filled with a longing desire to see his 
wife again, whom for twenty years he had not beheld, and 
he softly stole through the known passages of his beautiful 
house, till he came where the maids were lighting the queen 
through a stately gallery that led to the chamber where 
she slept. And when the maids saw Ulysses, they said, 
“ It is the beggar who came to the court to-day, about 
whom all that uproar was stirred up in the hall : what 
does he here ? ” But Penelope gave commandment that 
he should be brought before her, for she said, “ It may be 
that he has travelled, and has heard something concerning 
Ulysses.” 

Then was Ulysses right glad to hear himself named by 
his queen, to find himself in nowise forgotten, nor her 
great love towards him decayed in all that time that he 
had been away. And he stood before his queen, and she 
knew him not to be Ulysses, but supposed that he had 
been some poor traveller. And she asked him of what 
country he was. 


OF ULYSSES. 


9T 


He told her (as he had before told Eumseus) that he 
was a Cretan born, and, however poor and cast down he 
now seemed, no less a man than brother to Idomeneus, 
who was grandson to king Minos ; and though he now 
wanted bread, he had once had it in his power to feast 
Ulysses. Then he feigned how Ulysses, sailing for Troy, 
was forced by stress of weather to put his fleet in at a port 
of Crete, where for twelve days he was his guest, and enter- 
tained by him with all befitting guest-rites. And he de- 
scribed the very garments which Ulysses had on, by which 
Penelope knew he had seen her lord. 

In this manner Ulysses told his wife many tales of 
himself, at most but painting, but painting so near to the 
life that the feeling of that which she took in at her ears 
became so strong that the kindly tears ran down her fair 
cheeks, while she thought upon her lord, dead as she 
thought him, and heavily mourned the loss of him whom 
she missed, whom she could not find, though in very deed 
he stood so near her. 

Ulysses was moved to see her weep, but he kept his own 
eyes dry as iron or horn in their lids, putting a bridle 
upon his strong passion, that it should not issue to sight. 

Then told he how he had lately been at the court of 
Thresprotia, and what he had learned concerning Ulysses 
there, in order as he had delivered to Eumseus ; and Pene- 
lope was wont to believe that there might be a possibility 
of Ulysses being alive, and she said, “ I dreamed a dream 
this morning. Methought I had twenty household fowl 
which did eat wheat steeped in water from my hand, and 
there came suddenly from the clouds a crook-beaked hawk, 
who soused on them and killed them all, trussing their 

Trussing : pulling, i.e., wringing. 


98 


THE ADVENTURES 


necks ; then took his flight back up to the clouds. And in 
my dream inethought that I wept and made great moan for 
my fowls, and for the destruction which the hawk had 
made ; and my maids came about me to comfort me. And 
in the height of my griefs the hawk came back, and lighting 
upon the beam of my chamber, he said to me in a man’s 
voice, which sounded strangely even in my dream, to hear 
a hawk to speak: 4 Be of good cheer,’ he said, 4 0 daughter 
of Icarius ! for this is no dream which thou hast seen, but 
that which shall happen to thee indeed. Those household 
fowl, which thou lamentest so without reason, are the 
suitors who devour thy substance, even as thou sawe&t the 
fowl eat from thy hand ; and the hawk is thy husband, 
who is coming to give death to the suitors.’ And I awoke, 
and went to see to my fowls if they were alive, whom I 
found eating wheat from their troughs, all well and safe 
as before my dream.” 

Then said Ulysses, 44 This dream can endure no other 
interpretation than that which the hawk gave to it, who is 
your lord, and who is coming quickly to effect all that his 
words told you.” 

44 Your words,” she said, 44 my old guest, are so sweet 
that would you sit and please me with your speech, my 
ears would never let my eyes close their spheres for very 
joy of your discourse ; but none that is merely mortal can 
live without the death of sleep, so the gods who are 
without death themselves have ordained it, to keep the 
memory of our mortality in our minds, while we experience 
that, as much as we live, we die every day; in which 
consideration I will ascend my bed, which I have 
nightly watered with my tears since he that was my joy 
departed for that bad city ” — she so speaking because she 


OF ULYSSES. 


99 


could not bring her lips to name the name of Troy so 
much hated. So for that night they parted, Penelope to 
her bed, and Ulysses to his son, and to the armor and the 
lances in the hall, where they sat up all night, cleaning 
and watching by the armor. 


100 


THE ADVENTURES 


CHAPTER X. 

The Madness from Above. — The Bow of Ulysses. — The Slaughter. 
— The Conclusion. 

HEN daylight appeared, a tumultuous concourse 



V V of suitors again filled the hall ; and some won- 
dered, and some enquired what meant that glittering store 
of armor and lances which l&f in heaps by the entry of the 
door ; and to all that asked Telemachus made reply that he 


had caused them to be taken down to cleanse them of the 


rust and of the stain which they had contracted by lying 
so long unused, even ever since his father went to Troy; 
and with that answer their minds were easily satisfied. 
So to their feasting and vain rioting again they fell. 
Ulysses, by Telemachus’s order, had a seat and a mess 
assigned to him in the doorway, and he had his eye ever 
on the lances. And it moved gall in some of the great 
ones there present to have their feast still dulled with the 
society of that wretched beggar as they deemed him, and 
they reviled and spurned at him with their feet. Only 
there was one Philsetius, who had something a better 
nature than the rest, that spake kindly to him, and had 
his age in respect. He, coming up to Ulysses, took him 
by the hand with a kind of fear, as if touched exceedingly 
with imagination of his great worth, and said thus to him, 
“ Hail ! father stranger ! my brows have sweat to see the 
injuries which you have received, and my eyes have broke 


Philai tius ( Phi-1 e'-ti-us). 


OF ULYSSES. 


101 


forth in tears, when I have only thought that such being 
oftentimes the lot of worthiest men, to this plight Ulysses 
may be reduced, and that he now may wander from place 
to place as you do ; for such who are compelled by need 
to range here and there, and have no firm home to fix 
their feet upon, God keeps them in this earth as under 
water ; so are they kept down and depressed. And a dark 
thread is sometimes spun in the fates of kings.” 

At this bare likening of the beggar to Ulysses, Minerva 
from heaven made the suitors for foolish joy to go mad, and 
roused them to such a laughter as would never stop — 
they laughed without power of ceasing, their eyes stood 
full of tears for violent joys ; but fears and horrible mis- 
givings succeeded; and one among them stood up and 
prophesied: “Ah, wretches!” he said, “what madness 
from heaven has seized you, that you can laugh ? see you 
not that your meat drops blood ? a night, like the night of 
death, wraps you about ; you shriek without knowing it ; 
your eyes thrust forth tears; the fixed walls, and the 
beam that bears the whole house up, fall blood; ghosts 
choke up the entry ; full is the hall with apparitions of 
murdered men ; under your feet is hell ; the sun falls from 
heaven, and it is midnight at noon.” But like men whom 
the gods had infatuated to their destruction, they mocked at 
his fears, and Eurymachus said, “ This man is surely mad ; 
conduct him forth into the market-place, set him in the 
light, for he dreams that ’tis night within the house.” 

But Theoclymenus (for that was the prophet’s name), 
whom Minerva had graced with a prophetic spirit, that he 
foreseeing might avoid the destruction which awaited 
them, answered and said: “Eurymachus, I will not re- 

Theoclymeuus (Th8-o-ciym'-8-nus). 


102 


THE ADVENTURES 


quire a guide of thee, for I have eyes and ears, the use of 
both my feet, and a sane mind within me, and with these 
I will go forth of the doors, because I know the imminent 
evils which await all you that stay, by reason of this poor 
guest who is a favorite with all the gods.” So saying, he 
turned his back upon those inhospitable men, and went 
away home, and never returned to the palace. 

These words which he spoke were not unheard by Tele- 
machus, who kept still his eye upon his father, expecting 
fervently when he would give the sign which was to pre- 
cede the slaughter of the suitors. 

They, dreaming of no such thing, fell sweetly to their 
dinner, as jo3ung in the great store of banquet which was 
heaped in full tables about them ; but there reigned not a 
bitterer banquet planet in all heaven than that which hung 
over them this day by secret destination of Minerva. 

There was a bow which Ulysses left when he went to 
Troy. It had lain by since that time, out of use and un- 
strung, for no man had strength to draw that bow, save 
Ulysses. So it had remained, as a monument of the great 
strength of its master. This bow, with the quiver of 
arrows belonging thereto, Telemachus had brought down 
from the armory on the last night along with the lances ; 
and now Minerva, intending to do Ulysses an honor, put 
it into the mind of Telemachus to propose to the suitors to 
try who was strongest to draw that bow; and he promised 
that to the man who should be able to draw that bow his 
mother should be given in marriage — Ulysses’s wife the 
prize to him who should bend the bow of Ulysses. 

There was great strife and emulation stirred up among 
the suitors at those words of the prince Telemachus. And 
to grace her son’s words, and to confirm the promise which 


OF ULYSSES. 


103 


he had made, Penelope came and showed herself that day 
to the suitors ; and Minerva made her that she appeared 
never so comely in their sight as that day, and they were 
inflamed with the beholding of so much beauty, proposed 
as the price of so great manhood ; and they cried out that 
if all those heroes who sailed to Colchis for the rich pur- 
chase of the golden-fleeced ram had seen earth’s richer 
prize, Penelope, they would not have made their voyage, 
but would have vowed their valors and their lives to her, 
for she was at all parts faultless. 

And she said, “ The gods have taken my beauty from 
me, since my lord went for Troy.” But Telemachus 
willed his mother to depart and not be present at that con- 
test; for he said, “ It may be, some rougher strife shall 
chance of this than may be expedient for a woman to wit- 
ness.” And she retired, she and her maids, and left the 
hall. 

Then the bow was brought into the midst, and a mark 
was set up by prince Telemachus; and lord Antinous, as 
the chief among the suitors, had the first offer ; and he 
took the bow, and, fitting an arrow to the string, he strove 
to bend it, but not with all his might and main could he 
once draw together the ends of that tough bow ; and when 
he found how vain a thing it was to endeavor to draw 
Ulysses’s bow, he desisted, blushing for shame and for 
mere anger. Then Eurymachus adventured, but with no 
better success ; but as it had torn the hands of Antinous, 
so did the bow tear and strain his hands, and marred his 
delicate fingers, yet could he not once stir the string. 
Then called he to the attendants to bring fat and unctuous 
matter, which melting at the fire, he dipped the bow there- 
Colchis (Col'-kis). 


104 


THE ADVENTURES 


in, thinking to supple it and make it more pliable; but 
not with all the helps of art could he succeed in making it 
to move. After him others essayed their strength, but 
not any one of them, or of the rest of those aspiring suitors, 
had any better luck ; yet not the meanest of them there 
but thought himself well worthy of Ulysses’s wife, though 
to shoot with Ulysses’s bow the completest champion 
among them was by proof found too feeble. 

Then Ulysses prayed that he might have leave to try ; 
and immediately a clamor was raised among the suitors, 
because of his petition, and they scorned and swelled with 
rage at his presumption, and that a beggar should seek to 
contend in a game of such noble mastery. But Telem- 
achus ordered that the bow should be given him, and 
that he should have leave to try, since they had failed ; 
“ for,” he said, “ the bow is mine, to give or to withhold ; ” 
and none durst gainsay the prince. 

Then Ulysses gave a sign to his son, and he commanded 
the doors of the hall to be made fast, and all wondered at 
his words, but none could divine the cause. And Ulysses 
took the bow into his hands, and before he essayed to 
bend it, he surveyed it at all parts, to see whether, by 
long lying by, it had contracted any stiffness which hin- 
dered the drawing; and as he was busied in the curious 
surveying of his bow, some of the suitors mocked him, 
and said, “ Past doubt this man is a right cunning archer, 
and knows his craft well. See how he turns it over and 
over, and looks into it, as if he could see through the 
wood.” And others said, “We wish some one would tell 
out gold into our laps but for so long a time as he shall be 
in drawing of that string.” But when he had spent some 
little time in making proof of the bow, and had found it 


OF ULYSSES. 


105 


to be in good plight, like as a harper in tuning of his harp 
draws out a string, with such ease or much more did 
Ulysses draw to the head the string of liis own tough bow, 
and in letting of it go, it twanged with such a shrill noise 
as a swallow makes when it sings through the air ; which 
so much amazed the suitors that their colors came and 
went, and the skies gave out a noise of thunder, which at 
heart cheered Ulysses, for he knew that now his long 
labors by the disposal of the Fates drew to an end. Then 
fitted he an arrow to the bow, and drawing it to the head, 
he sent it right to the mark which the prince had set up. 
Which done, he said to Telemachus, “You have got no 
disgrace yet by your guest, for I have struck the mark I 
shot at, and gave myself no such trouble in teasing the 
bow with fat and fire as these men did, but have made 
proof that my strength is not impaired, nor my age so 
weak and contemptible as these were pleased to think it. 
But come, the day going down calls us to supper, after 
which succeed poem and harp, and all delights which use 
to crown princely banquetings.” 

So saying, he beckoned to his son, who straight girt his 
sword to his side, and took one of the lances (of which 
there lay great store from the armory) in his hand, and 
armed at all points advanced towards his father. 

The upper rags which Ulysses wore fell from his 
shoulder, and his own kingly likeness returned, when he 
rushed to the great hall door with bow and quiver full of 
shafts, which down at his feet he poured, and in bitter 
words presignified his deadly intent to the suitors. “Thus 
far,” he said, “this contest has been decided harmless: 
now for us there rests another mark, harder to hit, but 
which my hands shall essay notwithstanding, if Phoebus, 


10G 


THE ADVENTURES 


god of archers, be pleased to give me the mastery.” With 
that he let fly a deadly arrow at Antinous, which pierced 
him in the throat, as he was in the act of lifting a cup of 
wine to his mouth. Amazement seized the suitors, as their 
great champion fell dead, and they raged highly against 
Ulysses, and said that it should prove the dearest shaft 
which he ever let fly, for he had slain a man whose like 
breathed not in any part of the kingdom ; and they flew 
to their arms, and would have seized the lances, but 
Minerva struck them with dimness of sight that they went 
erring up and down the hall, not knowing where to find 
them. Yet so infatuated were they by the displeasure of 
Heaven that they did not see the imminent peril which 
impended over them, but every man believed that this 
accident had happened without the intention of the doer. 
Fools ! to think by shutting their eyes to evade destiny, 
or that any other cup remained for them but that which 
their great Antinous had tasted ! 

Then Ulysses revealed himself to all in that presence, 
and that he was the man whom they held to be dead at 
Troy, whose palace they had usurped, whose wife in his 
lifetime they had sought in impious marriage, and that for 
this reason destruction was come upon them. And he 
dealt his deadly arrows among them, and there was no 
avoiding him, nor escaping from his horrid person ; and 
Telemachus by his side plied them thick with those mur- 
derous lances from which there was no retreat, till fear 
itself made them valiant, and danger gave them eyes to 
understand the peril ; then they which had swords drew 
them, and some with shields, that could find them, and 
some with tables and benches snatched up in haste, rose 
in a mass to overwhelm and crush those two; yet they 


OF ULYSSES. 


10T 


singly bestirred themselves like men, and defended them- 
selves against that great host, and through tables, shields, 
and all, right through the arrows of Ulysses clove, and 
the irresistible lances of Telemachus ; and many lay dead, 
and all had wounds, and Minerva in the likeness of a bird 
sat upon the beam which went across the hall, clapping 
her wings with a fearful noise ; and sometimes the great 
bird would fly among them, cuffing at the swords and at 
the lances, and up and down the hall would go, beating 
her wings, and troubling everything, that it was frightful 
to behold, and it frayed the blood from the cheeks of those 
heaven-hated suitors; but to Ulysses and his son she 
appeared in her own divine similitude, with her snake- 
fringed shield, a goddess armed, fighting their battles. 
Nor did that dreadful pair desist till they had laid all their 
foes at their feet. At their feet they lay in shoals : like 
fishes, when the fishermen break up their nets, so they lay 
gasping and sprawling at the feet of Ulysses and his son, 
And Ulysses remembered the prediction of Tiresias, which 
said that he was to perish by his own guests, unless he 
slew those who knew him not. 

Then certain of the queen’s household went up and told 
Penelope what had happened, and how her lord Ulysses 
was come home, and had slain the suitors. But she gave 
no heed to their words, but thought that some frenzy 
possessed them, or that they mocked her; for it is the 
property of such extremes of sorrow as she had felt not to 
believe when any great joy cometh. And she rated and 
chid them exceedingly for troubling her. But they the 
more persisted in their asseverations of the truth of what 
they had affirmed ; and some of them had seen the slaugh- 
tered bodies of the suitors dragged forth of the hall. And 


108 


THE ADVENTUKES 


they said, 44 That poor guest whom you talked with, last 
night was Ulysses.” Then she was yet more fully per- 
suaded that they mocked her, and she wept. But they 
said, 44 This thing is true which we have told. We sat 
within, in an inner room in the palace, and the doors of 
the hall were shut on us, but we heard the cries and the 
groans of the men that were killed, but saw nothing, till 
at length your son called to us to come in, and entering 
we saw Ulysses standing in the midst of the slaughtered.” 
But she, persisting in her unbelief, said that it was some 
god which had deceived them to think it was the person 
of Ulysses. 

By this time Telemachus and his father had cleansed 
their hands from the slaughter, and were come to where 
the queen was talking with those of her household ; and 
when she saw Ulysses, she stood motionless, and liad no 
power to speak, sudden surprise and joy and fear and 
many passions so strove within her. Sometimes she was 
clear that it was her husband that she saw, and sometimes 
the alteration which twenty years had made in his person 
(yet that was not much) perplexed her that she knew not 
what to think, and for joy she could not believe, and yet 
for joy she would not but believe ; and, above all, that 
sudden change from a beggar to a king troubled her, and 
wrought uneasy scruples in her mind. But Telemachus, 
seeing her strangeness, blamed her, and called her an un- 
gentle and tyrannous mother ; and said that she showed a 
too great curiousness of modesty, to abstain from embrac- 
ing his father, and to have doubts of his person, when to 
all present it was evident that he was the very real and 
true Ulysses. 

Then she mistrusted no longer, but ran and fell upon 


OF ULYSSES. 


109 


Ulysses’s neck, and said, “ Let not my husband be angry, 
that I held off so long with strange delays ; it is the gods, 
who severing us for so long time, have caused this un- 
seemly distance in me. If Menelaus’s wife had used half 
my caution, she would never have taken so freely to a 
stranger ; and she might have spared us all these plagues 
which have come upon us through her shameless deed.” 

These words with which Penelope excused herself 
wrought more affection in Ulysses than if upon a first 
sight she had given up herself implicitly to his embraces ; 
and he wept for joy to possess a wife so discreet, so an- 
swering to his own staid mind, that had a depth of wit 
proportioned to his own, and one that held chaste virtue 
at so high a price ; and he thought the possession of such 
a one cheaply purchased with the loss of all Circe’s de- 
lights and Calypso’s immortality of joys; and his long 
labors and his severe sufferings past seemed as nothing, 
now they were crowned with the enjoyment of his virtu- 
ous and true wife Penelope. And as sad men at sea 
whose ship has gone to pieces nigh shore, swimming for 
their lives, all drenched in foam and brine, crawl up to 
some poor patch of land, which they take possession of 
with as great a joy as if they had the world given them 
in fee, with such delight did this chaste wife cling to her 
lord restored, and clasp once again. the living Ulysses. 

So from that time the land had rest from the suitors. 
And the happy Ithacans with songs and solemn sacrifices 
of praise to the gods celebrated the return of Ulysses ; for 
he that had been so long absent was returned to wreak 
the evil upon the heads of the doers ; in the place where 
they had done the evil, there wreaked he his vengeance 
upon them. 


In fee : for a possession. 


Press of 

Httfoxrh £ Smi% 
Boston. 


Elementary English. 


— ♦ — 

CLASSICS FOR CHILDREN. 

In forming the mind and taste of the young , is it not better to use authors 
who have already lived long enough to afford some guaranty that they 
may survive the next twenty years ? 

This series of standard works, edited for the use of children be- 
tween the ages of nine and fifteen, was suggested by seeing the 
result of setting children of nine and eleven years to reading The 
Lady of the Lake. They soon became so much interested in it, 
that they began not only to read with greater ease, but voluntarily 
committed to memory large portions of the poem. 

This result led to making numerous inquiries of thoughtful men 
and women, in various walks of life, in regard to their early reading. 
The evidence thus gained shows that children are capable of enjoy- 
ing good books at an early age, and the chances of forming in them 
a taste for good literature are then much better than at a later 
period. 

The child should have only the best set before him, for otherwise 
he is more liable to copy the imperfect, or to become confused be- 
tween the true and the false, than to be guided aright. 

At the same time, it is necessary for children to read a great deal, 
to acquire that facility of expression which will enable them to per- 
form the merely mechanical operation of reading without conscious 
effort. The mind should be entirely free to concentrate itself on 
the subject-matter. Now, since it is not natural for them to apply 
themselves closely enough and long enough to accomplish this 
work, we should aid them by supplying an abundance of interesting 
material. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance, at this stage 
of the child’s education, not only that the highest moral truths be 
presented, but that the matter be of such intense interest as to cato 


2 


ELEMENTARY ENGLISH. 


and hold the whole attention of the pupil. The highest moral law 
he should now know is to learn the command of words, and the 
most effective use of his faculties. Care should be taken that his 
English should be simple and forcible, and nothing harmful in ethics 
should be allowed. If a large portion of the time now given to 
spelling out words, in geography, arithmetic, grammar, and stupid 
scrap reading-lessons, were devoted at first to reading only, our 
children would not only become much better scholars in these vari- 
ous branches, but read more literature in the Grammar Schools than 
the college student now gets before graduating ; besides, they would 
acquire a literary taste and a love for good reading, of inestimable 
value to them in their future life, which will never be so busy but 
that they will find a few moments for the gratification of it. People 
are ignorant, not so much because of being overworked, as from 
want of a love for good reading. Give the children a chance, a 
glimpse into the great storehouses of knowledge in books, wherein 
they may commune with the greatest minds at their best. 

It is of the greatest importance to develop a love for history in 
early life, as no one can be well read without a fair knowledge of 
the past. In fact, one must know a people in order to understand 
their literature. Some of the best thoughts of a writer, depending 
upon allusions to historical persons or events, are entirely lost to 
the reader not familiar with history. Nor is this the only reason of 
its value. The tracing of great events unfolds the mind. We suffer 
and enjoy with the struggling mortals of the past, and, as it were, 
pass through their very experiences, and are able to reap their 
rewards while we avoid their mistakes. One who really loves his- 
tory will find time to read it, but none for cheap novels. Leading 
epochs should be selected from the great historians, adding such 
information as may be necessary for a complete understanding of 
the extracts. The historical novel and biography are especially 
well calculated to create a love for history, and the whole course 
should be so graded that biography, natural history, novels, travels, 
history, and the various departments of literature should be made 
mutually helpful and dependent, covering the same periods and 
llustrating one another. 

This work cannot be left to the High School, for we find, on a care- 
'ul examination of the reports from several of our largest cities, where 


ELEMENTARY ENGLISH. 


3 


the schools have attained their greatest perfection, that only one in 
twenty-five of the whole number of pupils ever reaches that grade. 

Besides, only a very limited portion of time is now given to this 
work in our higher institutions of learning, and there is a prospect 
of less in the near future. The bread-and-butter theory of educa- 
tion, appealing directly to the needs of the great majority of the 
people, has always exerted a strong influence against the higher 
training, and of late it has become alarmingly popular in our very 
strongholds of a liberal education. 

It is hoped that this attempt to put standard literature into the 
hands of young children will receive encouragement, and that a free 
discussion of the subject may lead to such changes in the course of 
instruction in the Public Schools as shall give to each study the 
proportion of time its importance may fairly claim. 

The following are ready. 

Each of the volumes is printed in large type, on good paper, and 
firmly bound. Each is complete ; or abridged, where cutting has 
been necessary, by a skilful hand, without impairment of style or 
story. Illustrations, when desirable, are freely used. The prices 
have been made as low as possible. As there has been a large 
call from the high schools for the “ Lady of the Lake,” “ Greek 
Heroes,” “ Quentin Durward,” “ Stories of the Old World,” “ Tales 
of a Grandfather,” and others, an edition has been bound in cloth, 
omitting the headline “ Classics for Children,” as possibly objec- 
tionable to higher classes. 

Hans Andersen^ ’s Fairy Tales. 

Edited for school and home use, by J. H. Stickney. 

FIRST SERIES : Supplementary to the Third Reader, for chil- 
dren from eight to twelve years of age. i2mo. viii+ 280 pp. Illus- 
trated. Mailing prices: Cloth, 55 cents; Boards, 45 cents. For 
Introduction : Cloth, 50 cents; Boards, 40 cts. 

SECOND SERIES : Supplementary to the Fourth Reader, for 
children from ten to fourteen years of age. i2mo. 000 pp. Illus- 
trated. Mailing prices: Cloth, ; Boards, . For Intro- 
duction: Cloth, ; Boards, 

THIRD SERIES : Supplementary to the Fifth Reader, for chil- 
dren of twelve years and upwards, with an account of the author’s 
life. i2mo. 000 pp. Illustrated. Mailing prices: Cloth, ; 

Boards, . For Introduction, Cloth, ; Boards, 


4 


ELEMENTARY ENGLISH. 


There has hitherto been no edition adapted to the wants of the 
varied readers to whose capacities the stories were addressed. This 
embarrassment is avoided by the grading of the present edition and 
its publication in three series. Care has been taken to winnow out 
everything unsuitable, and at the same time to preserve the full life 
of the original. Little required amendment, for both in language 
and spirit the stories are models. The text is based upon a sen- 
tence-by-sentence comparison of the translations current in England 
and America. 

/E sop’s Fables. 

Edited by J. H. Stickney, with a life of A£sop, and a Supplement 
containing fables from La Fontaine and Krilof. i2mo. xvii -f 204 
pp. Illustrated. Boards: Mailing price, 40 cts.; for Introduction, 35 
cts. Cloth : 60 and 50 cts. 

The desire to give the P'ables to children at the time in their 
lives when their teachings will have greatest influence, and to pre- 
sent them in such a style as to make them available to teachers and 
attractive to children, has led to the preparation of the present 
child’s version. The book is first a Reader, then a means of lan- 
guage culture, and last, but by no means least, a partial manual of 
practical ethics. 

Kingsley’s Water-Babies. 

Edited by J. H. Stickney. i2mo. 204 pages. Illustrated. Boards: 
Mailing price, 40 cts.; Introduction, 35 cts. Cloth: 60 and 50 cts. 

Testimony to any extent might easily be adduced to the excel- 
lent style and healthy tone of this beautiful story. A slight abridg- 
ment, involving no other change than the omission of difficult pas- 
sages, not intended to be understood by children, and amounting in 
the aggregate to less than forty in the two hundred and fifty pages, 
has perfectly adapted it to use in the schoolroom. 

The King of the Golden Riuerj_ or , The Black Brothers. 

By John Rusicin. A legend of Stiria. i2mo. 54 pp. Illustrated 
Boards: Mailing price, 24 cts.; for Introduction, 20 cts. Cloth: 20 
and 25 cts. 0 

A charming and wholesome fairy tale by a great author. The 
quaint illustrations add much to its interest. 


6 


ELEMENTARY ENGLISH. 


The Swiss Family Robinson. 

Edited by J. H. Stickney. viii + 364 pp. Illustrated. Boards : Mail- 
ing price, 50 cts.; for Introduction, 40 cts. Cloth: 60 and 50 cts. 

The text has been carefully compiled from the best editions ; and 
the Notes and Introduction will be found helpful. The story itself 
needs no commendation. 

Robinson Crusoe. 

The famous English Classic. Edited for Supplementary Reading in 
Schools, by W. H. Lambert. i2mo. 263 pages. Boards: Mailing 
price, 40 cts.; Introduction, 35 cts. Cloth: 60 and 50 cts. 

It has been slightly abridged by the omission of unimportant 
matter, and ends with his leaving the island. Great care has been 
taken to preserve Defoe’s language. 

Kingsley’s Greek Heroes. 

Edited by John Tetlow, Head Master of the Girls’ High and Latin 
Schools, Boston. i2mo. 168 pages. Illustrated. Boards: Mailing 
price, 40 cts.; Introduction, 35 cts. Cloth: 55 and 50 cts. 

It is surprising that this book has never before been edited for 
school use. It is particularly fitted to please the young, while its 
character and style are the very best. The lessons of heroism which 
it teaches in the most forcible way — by example — cannot fail of 
their effect. 

Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare 

320 pages. Boards: Mailing price, 50 cts.; Introduction, 40 cts. 
Cloth : 60 and 50 cts. 

Adapted to class use by the omission of “ Measure for Measure,” 
not suited for children, and by a few verbal changes. In its present 
form, the “ Tales ” will, it is hoped, be very welcome from the intrin- 
sic interest of the stories, and the delightful way they are told. 

Scott’s Tales of a Grandfather. 

Being the history of Scotland from the earliest period to its union 
with England under James VI. Abridged by Edwin Ginn. Boards : 
Mailing price, 50 cts.; Introduction, 40 cts. Cloth: 60 and 50 cts. 

The story of a heroic age narrated in the matchless style of the 
great national author. 


ELEMENTARY ENGLISH. 


7 


Scott's Lady of the Lake. 

Edited by Edwin Ginn. i2mo. 268 pages. Boards: Mailing price, 
40 cts.; Introduction, 35 cts. Cloth: 60 and 50 cts. 

It contains a brief life of Scott, and his critical notes on the poem 
carefully abridged, with sufficient annotation to be easily read by 
children ten years old. It also contains a brief life of James V., as 
well as a full description of the Highlands and their clans during 
his reign. This poem, with its beautiful descriptions of scenery, its 
vivid pictures of life, and the charming melody of its rhythm, seems 
especially well suited to interest the young. The reader will be 
assisted to comprehend the story by the sketch map of the region 
printed at the end of this volume. 

Stories^ of the_ Old World. 

Prepared expressly for this Series by the Rev. Alfred J. Church, 
M.A., author of “Stories from Homer, Livy, Virgil, etc.” i2mo. 354 
pages. Boards: Mailing price, 50 cts.; Introduction, 40 cts. Cloth: 
60 and 50 cts. 

The contents comprise the stories of the Argo, Thebes, the Iliad, 
Odyssey, and Ameid. The style is simple, idiomatic, and easy. 
The book was prepared especially for Grammar School pupils, many 
of whom would have no other opportunity of knowing anything of 
these old classics. It has, however, met with no less favor in clas- 
sical schools, both from the intrinsic interest of the narratives, and 
as affording an introduction to their Latin and Greek reading. 

Scott's Talisman. 

Edited by Dwight Holbrook, Principal of Morgan School, Clinton, 
Conn., with an Introduction by Miss Charlotte M. Yonge. i2mo. 
xii + 454 pp. Boards: Mailing price, 60 cts.; Introduction, 50 cts. 
Cloth : 70 and 60 cts. 

The Talisman serves a double purpose, both as introducing Scott 
to youth and affording a graphic account of an important period of 
history. It is here given without abridgment. 

In this work are found in vivid contrast two distinct civilizations, 

— that of the East and West. The notes, which are of two kinds, 

— historical and explanatory, — supply information tending to deepen 
the interest in the story and its prominent actors. 


8 


ELEMENTARY ENGLISH , . 


Scott's Quentin Dunuard. 

Edited for this Series, with an Historical Introduction, by Charlotte 
M. Yonge, of England. i2mo. 312 pages. Boards: Mailing price, 
50 cts.; Introduction, 40 cts. Cloth : 60 and 50 cts. 

In this edition the violence of the old times is mitigated, while 
the interest of the story, and its lessons of fidelity, courage, and 
sturdy manhood, are not weakened. 

Iruing’s Sketch Boob. 

With full notes, questions, etc., for home and school use. By Homer 
B. Sprague, Ph.D., and M. E. Scates, of the Girls’ High School, 
Boston. i2mo. 126 pages. Boards: Mailing price, 30 cents; for 
Introduction, 25 cents. Cloth: Mailing price, 40 cents; for Introduc- 
tion, 35 cents. 

The volume comprises The Voyage , Westminster Abbey , The 
Widow and her Son, Rip Van Winkle , The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 
and Christmas. For further description, see p. 51. 

Shakespeare’s Merchant of l/emce. 

Hudson and Lamb. i2mo. 115 pages. Boards: Mailing price, 30 
cts. ; Introduction, 25 cts. Cloth : 45 and 40 cts. 

It contains Hudson’s Life of Shakespeare, and about two-thirds 
of the Text and Notes of his School Edition, and Lamb’s Story 
of the play. None of the omissions impair the value of the work 
for children. 

Scotfs Guy Manncring. 

Edited with notes, and a historical introduction by Miss Charlotte M. 
Yonge. i2mo. 000 pp. Boards: Mailing price, ; for Introduc- 
tion, . Cloth : Mailing price, ; for Introduction, 

No remarks need be made upon the interest of this book, or its 
suitableness for use as a reader. It is given without abridgement. 

Scott's luanhoe. 

Edited with notes, and a historical introduction by Miss Charlotte M. 
Yonge. i2mo. 000 pp. Boards : Mailing price, ; for Intro- 
duction, . Cloth : Mailing price, ; for Introduction, 

Like the Talisman and Guy Mannering, Ivanhoe is given complete. 

[Ready, , 1886. 


ELEMENTAR Y ENGLISH. 


23 


ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 

Elementary Lessons in English. Part First: 

“ HOW TO SPEAK AND WRITE CORRECTLY.” By Mrs. 

N. I.. Knox-Heath. ( Teacher's edition described below I) l2mo. 

Cloth. 192 pages. Mailing price, 50 cents; Introduction, 45 cents; 

Allowance, 15 cents. 

This Part contains no technical grammar. It is designed to give 
children such a knowledge of the English Language as will enable 
them to speak , write , and use it with accuracy and force. It is made 
up of exercises to increase and improve the vocabulary, lessons in 
enunciation, pronunciation, spelling, sentence-making, punctuation, 
the use of capitals, abbreviations, drill in writing number-forms, 
gender- forms, and the possessive-form, letter-writing, and such other 
matters pertaining to the art of the language as may be taught 
simply, clearly, and profitably. Many and varied oral and written 
exercises supplement every lesson. 

The Teachers Edition^ of Elementary Lessons 

in English. To accompany Part I.: “ HOW TO SPEAK AND 

WRITE CORRECTLY.” Prepared by Mrs. N. L. Knox. i2mo. 

Cloth. 323 pages. Mailing price, 70 cts.; Introduction price, 60 cts. 

The “Teacher’s Edition” contains the entire text of the chil- 
dren’s book, and, in addition, plans for developing the lessons of the 
text, observation lessons, dictation and test exercises, questions for 
oral and written reviews, materials for composition exercises, plans 
for conducting picture lessons, a story lesson, etc., etc., etc. 

In a preliminary chapter ( The Teacher s Guide') -will be found a 
discussion of the Pestalozzian principles of education and instruc- 
tion, of the art of questioning and the laws of questioning, of 
methods of correcting oral and written mistakes, and of oral lessons 
— how to prepare them, and how to give them. This includes also 
material and plans for Oral Lessons in Language for the first, second, 
third, and fourth years in school. There is no book published in 
this country which is so clear, direct, and complete a manual for the 
use of teachers. 


24 


ELEMENTARY ENGLISH. 


These hooks are endorsed by leading’ educators in every part 
of the country. They have stood the test of the school-room. 
Teachers and pupils unite in their praise. The following testi- 
monials to their merits and usefulness, selected from our Special 
Circular , were chosen as a fair geographical representation of 
public opinion rather than as the strongest endorsements which 
the Circular contains : — 


Dr. G. Stanley Hall, Prof, of 
Psychology and Pedagogy , Johns Hop- 
kins Univ. : At present, when some of 
the fundamental principles of treating 
the vernacular have been opened for 
discussion and involved in doubt, it is 
no easy matter to write a te^t-book 
which shall harmonize and utilize most 
if not all of the practical advantages 
claimed for conflicting theories. This 
is accomplished in these admirable 
books to a surprising degree. They 
will surely find wide acceptation, as 
they deserve to. 

J. W. Babcock, Supt. of Schools, 
Dunkirk, N.Y.: No book of its kind 
has ever given us such wonderful re- 
sults. Pupils study it with pleasure as 
well as with profit. In fact it is no 
uncommon circumstance for an entire 
class to remain after school and urge 
the teacher to develop extra work for 
the next day. 

John B. Peaslee, Supt. of Schools, 
Cincinnati, O. : It meets my views on 
that subject better than any other work 
I have seen. 

S. G. Taylor, late Prin. Adclphi 
Acad., Brooklyn, N. Y. : We have used 
the “ Elementary Lessons in English ” 
for the past year, with great satisfaction, 
and consider it the best work on this 
subject that we have ever seen. 

H. Courthope Bowen, Prin. 
Finnsbury Training College, London, 


Eng. : The plan of the book is excel- 
lent, and the Teacher’s Edition is ad- 
mirable. 

J. A. MacCabe, Prin. of Normal 
School, Ottawa, Can. : The simplicity as 
well as originality with which the sub- 
ject is treated really take the book far 
out of the ordinary class of grammars 
and language lessons. The intrinsic 
worth of the book will make it in uni- 
versal demand, and the whole series 
will be eagerly sought after when thor- 
oughly known. 

S. T. Dutton, Supt. of Schools, 
New Haven, Conn. : The introduction 
of Elementary Lessons in English into 
the New Haven Schools marked an 
era in our manner of teaching lan- 
guage. Many teachers had previously 
used the book for reference, and found 
its methods to be sound, and its sug- 
gestions helpful. Now the “ Teacher’s 
Edition ” is in the hands of all teachers, 
and the pupil’s edition is used in all 
classes below the sixth grade. I think 
we have reason to be grateful both to 
the author and publisher of this work. 
{Jan. 18, 1883.) 

Prof. W. G. Williams, Wesleyan 
Univ., Delaware, O., and Member State 
Board of Exa?niners : I have no hesi- 
tancy in recommending this as the best 
text-book on this subject within my 
knowledge. We have introduced the 
work into the public schools of this 
city. 


ELEMENTARY ENGLISH. 


25 


Henry E. Shepherd, Supt. of 
Schools , Baltimore , Md. : The general 
design of the work commends itself 
very strongly to my favor. I am 
especially pleased with the “ Teacher’s 
Guide." 

S. W. Mason, Board of Super- 
visors , , Boston , A/ass. : The entire book 
is a most valuable contribution to show 
teachers what to do and how to do it, 
and it will prove to be an excellent 
text-book upon the subjects so intelli- 
gently and practically presented. 

Albert L. Bacheller, Prin. of 
Grammar School, Lowell, Afass. : There 
has never been a text-book employed 
in my school in any branch of study 
which has given greater satisfaction. 

P. Louis Soldan, Prin. Normal 
School, St. Louis, Mo. : The highest 
scholarship and the best talent and 
professional ability in teaching united 
to give us these books. 

(Feb. 21, 1882.) 

W. N. Barringer, Supt. of Schools, 
Newark, N.J. : We use it entirely in 
our primary grades, and in the fourth 
gradeffiu'awynar department. It gives 
the hjjgQ oT&tisfaction. 

A. W. Mell, Prin. Nor. Sdh., Bow- 
ling Green, Ky. : In the light of present 
attainments in language teaching, the 
plan seems a ne plus ultra. The 
“ Teacher’s Edition ” affords a most 
valuable help in methods of teaching ; 
not only in language, but any other 
branch as well. 

J. W. Thompson, County Exam- 
iner, Conzuay, Ark. : No teacher should 
be without it. As a text-book in the 
hands of pupils, I can only say that I 


believe it to be the shortest and easiest 
road to a knowledge of the English 
language. 

David Beattie, Supt. of Schools, 
Troy, N. Y. : Your book is really a good 
one, perhaps the only one worthy its 
name. In the hands of an honest and 
industrious teacher, the “ Teacher’s 
Edition” will prove a small normal 
school in itself. 

D. H. Darling, Supt. of Schools, 
Joliet, III. : We all agree that it is the 
most excellent, practical, and useful 
book op language for primary teachers 
that we have ever seen. 

Geo. Howland, Supt. of Schools, 
Chicago : I know of no work on the 
subject more suggestive and helpful to 
the young teacher. 

J. H. Haldeman, Prin. School 
of Observation, State Normal School, 
Westfield, Afass. : The interest increases 
as the pupil advances, and the results 
are most satisfactory. (Afar. 10, 1882.) 

J. Ormond Wilson, Supt. of 
Public Schools, Washington, D.C.: It 
has been used in the public schools of 
the District since Sept. 1, 1880, and has 
given the best satisfaction. 

A. L. Purinton, Supt. of Schools, 
Parkersburg, W. Va. : We are using it 
in these schools, and every day’s ex- 
perience adds its testimony to its excel- 
lence and fitness in the real work of 
the school-room. It is well-nigh fault- 
less. 

C. F. Gunther, St. Louis, Mo. : 
I find the "Elementary Lessons” es- 
pecially good with German children. 





























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